Crossover URE
by Ron the True Fan
Summary: The year is 2410. Operation Delta Rising has resulted in the disappearance of two Federation starships. The Ra-Cailum and Raging Tempest are presumed destroyed in action. - Starfleet Command. Two Federation starships end up in a situation similar to Voyager's, only on a galactic scale. Surrounded by enemies and few allies, they must change the destiny of a universe.
1. Prologue: In The Very Beginning

**Ron the True Fan: Do I LOOK like Gene Roddenberry, or that I work for Paramount or CBS?! Tell the bloodsucking lawyers to piss off!**

**Takeshi Yamato: We also don't own Mass Effect, or anything else that might make a cameo in this story… what can I say, I love importing things from other franchises and tweaking them to fit the destination! It still belongs to whomever created it, though.**

**117Jorn: We just own our characters and their shit. HIT IT! :D**

* * *

_**Delta Quadrant - edge of Northwest Passage**_

* * *

The Delta Quadrant.

A place mostly inaccessible to Starfleet, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Star Empire for centuries.

_Voyager_'s journey through the Delta Quadrant from 2371-2378 helped Starfleet learn a lot about the Quadrant, but long-term exploration was still not possible.

All that changed in 2409, when the Solanae Dyson Sphere was revealed, along with a Gateway connecting it with the Jenolan Dyson Sphere, which had jumped through subspace into the Delta Quadrant.

Now, Starfleet, the Klingons, and the Romulan Republic had all formed an Alliance to explore the Delta Quadrant.

Of course, there were still plenty of enemies to deal with in the Delta Quadrant. Including semi-familiar enemies, such as the Borg and Undine.

Which was exactly what was happening to a _Sao Paulo_-Class escort near the so-called Northwest Passage, where the Borg and Undine were engaged in a tug-of-war over the sole area of space untouched by the borg. It was not going well.

"Jeez, we just _**had**_ to be on patrol in this area when the Undine and Borg decide to throw down, getting us caught in the middle," the ship's Captain, a Human male with dark brown hair done in a buzzcut, a bushy moustache the same color as his hair, and amethyst eyes said from the Helm Console, where he preferred to command his ship rather than the center chair, which was instead occupied by his XO. He pulled on his Manual Steering Column, steering the ship out of the path of a beam from a Borg Cube, before he turned to the Communications Station. "Rina, any word on backup?" he asked.

"The closest ship is 15 minutes from our position!" Rina Nuras, a young Bajoran woman with dark red hair and blue eyes, replied. "And with this many Undine and Borg ships, I don't think we're going to last that long!"

Three Quantum Torpedoes slammed into a borg sphere, destroying it seconds afterward, followed by a _Sovereign_-Class starship flying out of the debris.

"Guess they weren't as far away as we thought," the Captain, Takeshi Yamato, replied as he opened up with the Pulse Cannons on a Borg Probe, tearing through its shields before a Quantum Torpedo finished it off.

"That's because it's not the ship," Kimberly 'Kim' Johnston, the ship's Sensor Operator, reported from her station. "That's the _Ra-Cailum_: she's supposed to be back at the Jenolan Dyson Sphere."

The console beeped as they received a message from the _Ra-Cailum_. "We're being hailed," Rina reported.

"On screen," Takeshi ordered. "_Raging Tempest_ to _Ra-Cailum_, nice of you to join the party."

The captain of the Ra-cailum appeared on the screen. "_Ronald Pinkerton of the _Ra-Cailum," he said. "_Sorry to crash your party, but I heard these fuckers coming and I thought I'd head out to assist._"

"No worries," Takeshi replied. "Glad you showed up, actually - we were on a routine patrol when the Borg showed up, then the Undine came out of their Fluidic Rifts, and they started shooting at each other, with us caught in the middle."

"Then let's pay them both back in kind," Ron said. "Besides, I owe the Borg for what happened to me 6 years ago. We'll drag the cubes and spheres off your ass: pick off the small fry, then focus on the larger ships."

"Understood," Takeshi replied as the transmission ended. He then turned to his Tactical Officer, a Xindi-Reptilian Male named Tholra who had joined the crew in the aftermath of the Undine attacks on Earth and Qo'nos. "Tholra, set the Pulse Cannons on Scatter Volley Mode, and queue up a full spread of Quantum Torpedoes."

"Aye, Captain," Tholra replied, keying in the requisite command as Takeshi oriented the _Raging Tempest_ on a cluster of Probes, firing off a cone of Pulse Cannon fire which tore through their shields, allowing the volley of Quantum Torpedoes to detonate between and around them, shredding their hulls.

The _Raging Tempest_ tore the smaller borg ships apart, and began moving onto the larger spheres and the more dangerous Undine bioships, including a Tethys dreadnought that came out of a fluidic rift. The larger assault cruiser took down a standard Cube, but the Borg called in the big guns with two Tactical Cubes and a V'ger-type command ship.

"Hoo, boy, this doesn't look good," Takeshi remarked. "Might be a good idea to try getting out of here, let the Borg and Undine fight it out without either of us in the way…"

The command ship fired some kind of high-energy tachyon beam at the Tethys, which responded with opening a fluidic rift, allowing bioplasma in from fluidic space. The singularity, however, was destabilized by the beam, and another Cube exploding did not help matters. In fact, they made matters worse.

"Captain, that Rift is throwing out all sorts of Tachyon and Chroniton radiation!" Kim reported. "It's also destabilizing rapidly thanks to that exploding Cube! Recommend we get out of here before-"

The rift encompassed the command ship, both Starfleet ships, one of the Undine Nicors and a tactical cube, then collapsed with all of the ships inside it.

* * *

_**Jenolan Dyson sphere - Joint Command headquarters**_

* * *

The first Dyson sphere discovered by the Alpha Quadrant was now filled with ships of all kinds, including the one that started this debacle in the first place: the _Intrepid_-Class USS _Voyager_ NCC-74656.

On _Voyager_'s Bridge, Admiral Tuvok sat at his command chair, planning out various strategies of fighting the various enemies that were hampering exploration efforts throughout the Quadrant. They had made some allies: The Talaxians, the Ocampa, the Benthans, the Kobali, and the Hazari… but the Kazon were as violent as ever, they were near the home territory of the Borg, clusters of Undine were still a threat, even though he'd dealt with the one that had taken the form of Doctor Eric Cooper, and the Voth still sought both the Jenolan and Solanae Spheres for themselves.

"Admiral, we've lost contact with the _Ra-Cailum_."

The dark skinned Vulcan looked at Lieutenant Commander Van'Zyl, who was carrying a PADD with the report in question. "Indeed," he remarked. "Did Captain Pinkerton say why he left the sphere in the first place?"

"Only that he 'heard something' before taking off at maximum warp."

"Commander, the captain of the Ra-Cailum is in a similar situation as Seven of Nine," Tuvok informed. "He is a former Borg drone. It is likely he heard the voices of the Borg collective. What was his last known course?"

"He was heading towards the Northwest Passage," Van'Zyl replied. "We actually got a distress call from that region a few minutes ago, as well - apparently the _Raging Tempest_ was patrolling the area and got caught in the middle of a skirmish between the Borg and Undine…" she paused for a moment as realization sunk in. "And that's likely what Captain Pinkerton picked up on."

"Send the closest ship in the area to investigate," Tuvok ordered.

"The warbird U'Hanyu is the closest ship, according to the charts," Van'Zyl informed. "I'll order them to vector to intercept and investigate under cloak."

* * *

_**Meanwhile…**_

* * *

A woman wearing full armor and carrying a large sniper rifle moved toward a group of rocks to use as cover.

"Commander, this is some serious shit," one of her teammates, a man, informed. "I'm seeing smoke from the spaceport, even from here. Think we should tell Nihlus?"

"Probably a good idea," replied the woman, activating her helmet's comm systems. "Shepard to Nihlus: We're seeing smoke coming from the spaceport. You want us to check it out?"

"_Negative,_" came the reply of Nihlus, the Turian Spectre assigned to the mission. "_I'm already en route. Stay on mission. The beacon's your priority, Shepard._"

Nicole Shepard sighed. "Understood." She turned off the comm. "Sometimes I hate my job."

"Normandy _to Shepard: we're seeing some freaky shit up here,_" came the voice of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, the pilot of the SSV Normandy, the ship that had ferried them here. "_Might be reinforcements for whoever attacked the colony._"

"Understood," Shepard replied. "I'm assuming Captain Anderson's wanting to check it out?"

"_Yeah, no shit. Might be able to keep them from landing anyone else on the surface while we're at it._"

"Got it, Joker," Shepard informed. "Kick ass."

"_I'll sure as hell try._"

The call ended, and Shepard looked at her team. "Jenkins, your colony. Lead the way."

Private Jenkins, a native to Eden Prime, nodded as he took point, leading the group towards the site where they unearthed the Prothean Beacon. Next up was Kaidan Alenko, the man who'd pointed out the smoke from the spaceport.

Shepard brought up the rear, along with their last teammate - Hitomi Yamato, an N7-Trained soldier like Shepard, only trained as a Vanguard while Shepard trained as an Infiltrator.

"And here we thought this would just be a milk run, eh, Nicole?" Hitomi asked Shepard in a whisper. "Even when we learned about the Beacon, or that we were nominated for the Spectres, part of me still expected this to be a simple milk run."

"Really? You two were nominated for-" Two drones entered view and opened fire on Jenkins, who was killed within seconds, screaming. Kaidan took cover while asking himself a simple question. 'Was that a Wilhelm Scream?'

Shepard quickly aimed and fired off a shot with her Mantis Sniper Rifle, hitting the first drone even as Hitomi used a Biotic Charge to slam into the other one, before drawing the ninjato on her back and slicing the drone in two.

Kaidan ducked out of cover to check the poor son of a bitch. "Blew through his shields," he said after a moment. "No chance."

"We'll make sure he gets a burial later," Shepard replied. "Let's get to the beacon."

"Yeah," Hitomi replied as they set out again. "So much for a milk run…"

* * *

_**Elsewhere on Eden Prime**_

* * *

Nihlus stuck to cover like his life depended on it, which it did. He had identified the invading force as something that seemed impossible: the Geth. While the Geth were dangerous, they stayed behind the Perseus Veil ever since they kicked the Quarians off their homeworld, Rannoch. Why they even let the Quarians live was an object of fierce debate, but irrelevant to the current situation.

"…the conversion spikes," he heard a familiar voice saying. "We might as well use these humans for something useful."

Nihlus peeked out of his cover to find something even MORE impossible: an old friend leading the Geth. Saren Arterius was directing the Geth to perform tasks. He was HELPING them. '_This is not good,_' he thought. '_I know he hated humans for what happened during the Relay 419 Incident, but this is above and beyond anything that excuses this!_'

That said, Nihlus wasn't an idiot. He knew that simply confronting Saren at this point would likely only get him killed. Instead, he needed to collect evidence, evidence he could present to the council to prove what Saren was doing. Manipulating his Omni-Tool, he had a camera visor drop down over his eyes as he peeked out again, to record the images of Saren giving orders to the Geth.

Two Geth, larger than the rest, approached the seemingly rogue Spectre, saying something in the geth language. "Two ships in orbit? Interesting. The Alliance had someone in the area to check on their colony. Send one of the ships to investigate. I will be attending to the beacon." Saren walked toward the transport that would take him to the spaceport and the beacon.

"Damn it," Nihlus whispered. He activated his comm, calling Shepard and her team. "Shepard, we have a problem."

"_If you're talking about the Geth, we know,_" Shepard replied. "_We linked up with a survivor from one of the local battalions, who identified them for us._"

"Not that," Nihlus replied. "It's who's in charge. It's a Spectre: an old friend of mine named Saren. Seems like the man's lost his mind."

"_What makes you say that?_" Shepard asked.

"He lost a few friends to your military during… it," Nihlus informed. "You know what I'm talking about."

"_The First Contact War, we get it,_" Shepard replied.

"Either way, Shepard, get to the spaceport," Nihlus instructed. "Saren's on his way there."

"_Would explain why the Beacon wasn't at the dig site,_" Shepard remarked. "_It had already been moved to the spaceport for pickup. We'll get there ASAP._"

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**SR1 - in orbit**_

* * *

The Alliance frigate approached the two contacts as stealthily as it could. "Captain, we're coming up on those ships," Joker reported. "Ladar images are pretty fucked up: they don't look like normal ships." David Anderson looked at the aforementioned ladar silhouettes.

The smaller of the two, possibly a small bit larger than the _Normandy_, was rather compact, with a rounded front and flat rear, though there was a small, somewhat-rectangular protrusion sticking out of the bow, and two… he'd almost call them 'winglets'. but they were almost as thick as the main hull, and didn't extend more than a few meters away from it. Whatever they were, they were slightly shorter than the main hull, and swept forward. All in all, this ship looked like it was designed for combat.

The larger ship, however - and it was much larger, possibly on par with an _Everest_-Class Dreadnought - was also much more graceful-looking, with an oval-shaped disk resting on top of a slender secondary hull, with two pylons at the aft of the secondary hull sweeping back and ending in two long nacelles.

If a single word could be used to describe each ship, Anderson would call the larger one 'elegant' while the smaller one… well, Joker would probably call it 'badass'.

"We're coming up on them now, Captain," Joker informed. "And holy shit, that thing is huge!"

The _Normandy_ finally came up on the two ships, and Anderson had to agree with Joker: the larger of the two ships was almost 700 meters in length, over four times the size of the _Normandy_, while the other ship was roughly the same size.

"Joker, get ready to take the stealth systems offline and prime the weapons," Anderson ordered.

"_Attention, unidentified jackass,_" came a voice over the radio. "_Get any closer and I'll be forced to take drastic action._"

Anderson was shocked. They could see through their stealth systems? "Joker, full stop for now," he ordered, not wanting to take chances with these unknowns. "Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Anderson of the Systems Alliance vessel _Normandy_. Identify yourself."

"_Ronald Pinkerton, captain of the United Federation of Planets starship _Ra-Cailum," came the reply. "_Would you mind explaining where the fuck we are?_"

Anderson blinked. Something weird was going on here. "You're near Eden Prime, a Systems Alliance colony world," he informed.

"_I didn't ask for the name of the planet, you-_" Captain Pinkerton began, before he was interrupted by another voice over the radio.

"_Captain, the computer's calculated our location,_" the other voice said. "_Looks like we're 6000 light-years from our previous position._"

"_Son of a bitch,_" Pinkerton remarked. "_Try to contact the _Raging Tempest."

"_They're barely operating on aux power, same as us, sir,_" came the reply. "_The only reason we're capable of talking to anyone are our more powerful fusion reactors._"

Anderson was blinking in confusion. Over 6000 light-years? Unless they used a Relay, that shouldn't be possible, but the energy signatures they'd picked up weren't indicative of a Relay Jump. And fusion reactors? They didn't use eezo? This was getting stranger by the minute.

"_Captain, we got something closing in on our position, and it's hostile!_" another voice said. "_Weapons are armed!_"

"_Fuck!_" Captain Pinkerton swore. "_Get our _Peregrines _out there to protect the _Tempest_! All hands, stand to battle stations!_"

"Captain, we got a ship coming up from Eden Prime!" Joker reported. "Like you heard over the comms, that thing's coming in hot! Database isn't coming up with a definitive match, but it looks similar to what Geth ships are supposed to look like!"

Anderson swore. It just _had_ to be the Geth that attacked Eden Prime, didn't it? "Prime all weapons systems," he ordered. "Once that ship gets in range, disengage the stealth systems and open up with everything we've got!"

The Geth ship fired on the _Ra-Cailum_, but the shot only impacted some form of shield.

"Those aren't kinetic barriers!" Pressly exclaimed. "Who the hell are these people?!"

Energy ran through a channel on the large cruiser's dorsal saucer before a beam of light lanced through the Geth ship, heavily damaging it.

"Looks like they don't use Mass Effect-based weaponry, either," Joker remarked. "Hey, I know this might sound crazy, but… you think these guys might come from another dimension?"

"Only one way to find out, Lieutenant, and that's out of the question at the moment," Anderson replied as the Geth ship (a cruiser, judging from the size) turned and ran, but the beam weapon hit it again, knocking out its' engines before a larger ship made its' appearance.

Looking vaguely like a cuttlefish, Anderson knew it from the footage sent from Eden prime before contact was lost.

"_Attention, unidentified vessel, this is Captain-_" Pinkerton began, before the massive ship fired a red beam of sorts at the _Ra-Cailum_, again impacting the shields. "_Oh, NOW you're just being rude! Corpsa, kill the fucker!_"

Another beam lanced out from the _Ra-Cailum_, cutting a massive gash into the hull of the cuttlefish before a pair of red projectiles flew from the _Ra-Cailum_, blowing a chunk out of the cuttlefish's hull and blowing a tentacle clean off.

The cuttlefish didn't seem to like that, and flew forward in attempt to escape, flying over the Ra-Cailum. '_Smart option,_' Anderson thought, '_seeing as no ship has aft facing-_' Two more beams shot out from the two pylons, hacking off three more 'tendrils' from the underside. "These guys even have aft weapons?" Joker exclaimed. "Who the fuck ARE they?"

"I think your theory about an alternate universe might be a sound one, Joker," Anderson remarked. "We'll need to find out for sure once the colony is secure."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- bridge**_

* * *

"Send a security team to transporter room one. I want them fully equipped with personal shields and armed to the teeth," Ron ordered as he marched to a panel and pressed a button, flipping it around to allow him access to a Type-3 Mod 2 phaser rifle. This was a rather underused weapon, as the only ones to use it regularly were the crew of Voyager during their trip through the Delta Quadrant. "I'll be joining them. Sonja, you have the bridge."

"Aye, Captain," Ron's Chief Engineer replied as he strode from the Bridge.

"_There's a shuttle launching from the _Raging Tempest," Corpsa reported.

"Ignore it. I've got bigger problems, like getting main power back online. Corpsa, the bridge is yours." The Andorian seemed to blanch at that, but before she could protest, Sonja had walked into another turbolift.

* * *

_**Eden Prime**_

* * *

Shepard and her team, which now included local soldier Ashley Williams, had made their way to the spaceport, linking up with Nihlus along the way, before boarding a cargo train and shooting off along the path Saren took.

They weren't expecting weapons fire when they arrived. The Geth were fighting someone. And if the weapons being fired at the Geth were any indication, they weren't fighting any of the locals.

"Come on, assholes!" a voice was yelling. "I've fought kittens tougher than you fuckers!"

"We need to secure the beacon, but we might as well give whoever's fighting the Geth a hand," Hitomi remarked, priming her shotgun.

The Geth were retreating from the unknowns, only to take a bolt of energy to the back once in a while. "Judging from the Geth running, I don't think they need help," Nihlus remarked.

"Point," Shepard replied. "Make sure you don't get caught in the crossfire, though - those energy blasts don't look like they're affected by Kinetic Barriers."

A bolt hit Ashley in the head, knocking her to the ground.

"Damn it, Carmine, cease fire!" Yelled the first voice.

"Sorry, Captain!" another voice replied.

"If that weapon wasn't set to stun, I'm going to be VERY pissed off!" the 'Captain' informed.

"Uh… heavy stun?" 'Carmine' replied nervously.

"Marcus, he's your man," the 'Captain' said. "YOU deal with him."

"With pleasure, sir," came the reply.

A man jumped down from cover, wearing something that didn't resemble anything remotely linked to combat armor. If anything, it was just a uniform. "Sorry about that, people: Carmine's the FNG of my security force, and known for stupidity. At least she's not dead."

Kaidan had knelt down and checked Ashley's suit vitals, confirming that she was indeed still alive.

Shepard just shook her head. "FNGs always seem to make the most mistakes, or take the most risks," she replied. "Anyway, thanks for the help with the Geth. Commander Nicole Shepard, Systems Alliance Military."

"Ronald Pinkerton, captain of the United Federation of Planets starship Ra-Cailum," he informed. "I decided to pay a visit."

"Do visits usually involve fully armed security teams?" Nihlus asked.

A Geth sniper fired a round at Ron's head, but the man's personal shields shrugged off the high impact round before he pointed the rifle at the Geth. "Only in a combat zone," he said as he fired, hitting the Geth and vaporizing it.

Shepard nodded. "Makes sense," she said. "Kaidan, stay with Williams until we can get her back to the _Normandy_. Hitomi, Nihlus, you're with me - we're going to find that Beacon."

"Mind if I tag along?" Ron asked. "My team can secure the station, but I want to know exactly what the hell's going on."

"Like me wanting to know how the hell you hit that Geth without even looking at it?" Shepard queried.

"One of my eyes is artificial," Ron replied. "Filters visual data into my brain. It's a simple matter to create a datalink into an optical targeting system."

'_Like hell it's that simple!_' Shepard thought. '_That's beyond anything we're capable of!_'

"Regardless, we have assholes to kill," Ron informed. "Shall we?"

Shepard nodded. "Let's go," she said, readying a pistol for more close-in action than her Mantis would provide. Hitomi primed her shotgun, a blue Biotic aura flaring around her as she used a Biotic Barrier to supplement her shields, and Nihlus readied his assault rifle.

A squad of Geth met them at the first turn, but they didn't get a chance to fire before Ron pointed at them. "YOU!" The lead Geth pointed at itself before running away, the rest of the squad following suit before Ron chased after them, screaming bloody murder. "Why am I reminded of one of your old vids?" Nihlus asked.

"I'm not sure, but I expect something to happen," Shepard remarked. A digital-sounding scream was the answer to that. "Let's go, before he destroys everything."

"Agreed," Hitomi replied. The three started running after Ron.

He came running back, firing at a swarm of Geth with his energy weapon. Whatever it was. "TOO MANY!" he yelled. "TOO MANY!"

"Hey, Cap, why aren't you using the other rifle?" One of his team asked.

Ron paused and pulled out another weapon, looking similar to the twin-pronged rifle he was using, only more narrow. "Right, the shotgun," he said as he fired the weapon, causing a cone of death to impact several Geth, and send them running again with him on their tails.

"Actually, you know what? He'll be fine," Shepard remarked. "We'd better find the Beacon before he does - because he might destroy it by accident."

* * *

Saren cocked his head to the side upon hearing multiple explosions and what sounded like a Geth Wilhelm Scream. "What in the name of the spirits is going on down there?!"

At that moment, he heard a high-pitched whine that didn't sound like anything he'd heard before. Looking up, he saw a small craft approaching, with graceful curves and two stubby engine nacelles sticking out the back. He was then forced to leap away as twin beams of orange destruction emerged from the front corners of the craft, digging deep furrows into the ground where he had been mere seconds earlier.

"Shit!" Saren yelled as he ran off, having taken what he needed from the beacon earlier, taking cover until that thing landed before he ran off to a gunship.

Soon after it landed, Takeshi stepped out of a hatch on the back of the craft, followed by a woman with red hair and blue eyes, then several other security personnel. All were wearing the standard 'Odyssey' Uniform that had come into standard use earlier that year, though they had the 2370's-era Combadge, golden Rank Insignia, and Takeshi was wearing the Long Jacket version of the uniform.

"_Pinkerton to _Raging Tempest _security team,_" Ron's voice said over the comms. "_We have a large number of synthetic targets down here. Personal shields are a requirement. Proceed with caution._"

"Roger that," Takeshi informed, even as he and his team double-checked their personal shields. "We just chased off an unknown alien who appeared to have several cybernetic augmentations." He paused as he saw a gunship take off. "I think he's connected to the attackers somehow, because he just took off in one of their ships. Anyway, we'll home in on your position and link up with you. Yamato out."

"_What the hell are you doing, you idiot?!_" Ron shouted incredulously. "_Shoot that damn thing down! Your phasers are good enough for the job! Fuck!_" Several phaser bolts shot toward the gunship, with all but one missing. (On the gunship, Saren jumped when the hull was breached by an energy bolt.)

"Ra-Cailum _to ground teams,_" came the report from the ship. "_We're tracking a craft leaving the atmosphere. Our phaser capacitors are too drained to disable the damn thing and the _Normandy _is out of position._"

"And I doubt the _Raging Tempest_ will be able to engage," Takeshi remarked. "I remembered Matt mentioning before we left the ship that he was needing to completely re-crystallize the dilithium matrix, and we just can't run the weapons on auxiliary power."

"_Damn it, he's getting away!_" one of the _Ra-Cailum_'s personnel yelled.

"_That's enough, Commander,_" Ron replied. "_Fenix, sweep the compound and secure it. Coming to you, Yamato._"

"Roger that," Takeshi replied. "See you shortly."

A group of armored personnel, mostly human with a single alien Takeshi couldn't identify, approached from one of the ramps, followed by Ron, wearing his 2370s-era uniform. "Compound's secure, even though that bastard got away," Ron informed.

"Looks like the Beacon's intact, too," Shepard remarked, looking at the Prothean Beacon.

"I wonder why it's glowing like that…" Hitomi mused as she stepped closer.

Takeshi looked at the 'beacon', blinked, then back at the armored personnel. "That looks rather strange for a 'beacon'," he said.

"Well, technically, it's not ours," Shepard informed. "Almost all Prothean tech has an appearance that might not be seen as normal."

Ron reset his phaser to its' maximum setting. "I get the feeling this thing uses psionics." Hitomi got too close to it, and was dragged towards it. "Goddamn it, I hate my life."

"Hitomi!" Shepard yelled, running up to her and grabbing her, she tried to throw Hitomi away from the Beacon, but before she could do that they were _both_ lifted into the air as the Beacon began downloading its data directly into their minds.

The captain of the _Ra-Cailum_ sighed before taking aim at the beacon. "No!" Kaidan yelled. "If you do that, you might kill them!"

"Meh, we have shit that can bring them back from the dead."

Kaidan continued to attempt to wrench the phaser rifle out of his hands, but Ron used the neural neutralizer he had been 'given' by the Borg on Kaidan, knocking him down and allowing him to open fire.

However, before he could shoot, Shepard and Hitomi were flung back as the Beacon exploded. Once they landed, Nihlus ran over and checked their vitals. "They're still alive, but unconscious - I can't get a clearer reading than that. We need to get them to a medbay for a proper examination."

"Pinkerton to _Ra-Cailum_: lock onto my signal and beam us directly to sickbay," Ron ordered.

"_Standing by, sir,_" came the reply.

Nihlus didn't have a chance to ask before they were encompassed in light, then reappeared in some sort of medical facility, complete with a large number of people in matching uniforms, only the turtlenecks were a deep blue instead of red.

"Sick people, Captain?" asked a seemingly human woman, albeit with spots running down either side of her head, wearing the same uniform as the others, plus a white overcoat, as she walked over and took a look at the two unconscious women. "Neural shock, from the looks of it. They'll be fine, but I'd prefer to keep them here until I'm sure."

"Fine," Ron replied. "Everyone, this is Commander Rutia Yulanra, my chief medical officer. Rut, these are..." He looked at the conscious group from the planet. "Actually, I have no idea who you are. Regardless, I've got better things to do then play meet and greet."

"Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, Systems Alliance Military," Kaidan introduced.

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, same," Ashlen said.

"Nihlus Kryik, Citadel Spectre," Nihlus finished.

"Doc, you deal with them," Ron said. "I'm going to main engineering. Sonja shouldn't be having THAT much trouble with the new warp core."

"Considering that it's one of the newest models in the fleet? I'd say she'll have problems," Rutia called out as Ron left the sickbay, waving dismissively. "Well, take a seat on one of the biobeds. Doctor's orders."

"But we're-" Kaidan began to say.

"Doctor's. Orders," Rutia repeated, smiling with her eyes closed. It looked elegant but…

Kaidan, Ashley, and Nihlus felt an incredible pressure from the woman, and each immediately sat on a biobed, a single thought running through all three of their minds.

'_Scary!_'

"Thank you," she said. "Ogawa, look after those two women, make sure their neural patterns aren't beyond help. You, my alien friend, are my problem."

Nihlus would have paled, had it been possible, as she took out a tricorder. "Um… uhh…" he said, trying to say something, but nothing was really coming out, given how terrified he was from the aura she was giving off.

"It's a non-invasive scan. Nothing to be worried about. Just taking biometric readings. And for God's sake, calm down: if I don't get a standard reading, I could fuck up in giving medication to a member of your race, should we be spending more time here then most of us would like."

Nihlus nodded, and tried his best to calm down. At the same time, though, he was glad that Doctor Chakwas back on the _Normandy_ wasn't as scary as this woman.

One of the other doctors put a hypospray against Ashley's neck, injecting her with some form of medication, although she reacted by putting the man in an armlock. "What the hell?! I was just doing my job!"

"You don't do shit that-"

"Young lady." Ashley looked back at Rutia, who was now holding a small weapon the size of her thumb. "Let him go. NOW."

Ashley released the man, bowing apologetically (and repeatedly) to Rutia.

"Perhaps the next time you get hit with a phaser, we won't give you the medication needed to not suffer a massive headache for most of the next day as a lesson." She continued scanning Nihlus as Kaidan looked at her.

"You're not human?" he asked.

"No," Rutia replied. "I'm a Trill."

"Trill?" Ashley asked, curiosity temporarily overriding her fear of the woman.

She lifted up part of her uniform to reveal a small scar. "Trill are a symbiotic species: a host and a symbiont. I'm what's usually referred to as a joined Trill. We always take on the symbiont's name as our own once joined."

"So..."

"Before I was joined, my name was Rutia Tarem. Now I'm Rutia Yulanra." She closed the tricorder and moved on to Kaidan, taking a new tricorder in the process. "I have 6 centuries of experience and memory inside my head. Of course, that's nothing compared to the Captain."

"What do you mean by that?" Ashley asked.

Rutia's eyes darkened slightly. "Computer, do we have enough power to use the holographic systems?" She asked.

A beep followed her request. "_Negative,_" the voice of the computer replied. "_Main power is offline. Auxiliary power is at 35%. Battery power is not yet engaged._"

"Shit. Access the batteries and activate the Borg tutorial program, authorization Yulanra twenty-two Beta Charlie Echo."

Soon, what looked like a holographic window appeared in front of Ashley. "What the…" she began.

A face belonging to a woman wearing a uniform much like Ron's, only with gold trim, appeared. "_Good day, everyone,_" she said. "_My name is Kathryn Janeway. Over the next few minutes, I'm going to touch on the basics of the Federation's most feared enemy._" Janeway's face disappeared, replaced by a man wearing some form of armor, a prosthetic arm and eye and tubing connecting everything to his head and body. "_The Borg. The first thing to know about them is where they come from. We don't know where the Borg came from, but we do know that for millennia, they were a small collection of beings limited to a few systems in the Delta Quadrant._" An image of the galaxy appeared, with a red hand-like emblem showing the location of Borg space, which then grew. "_The Borg expanded their hold, mostly through their ability to adapt and assimilate._"

Ashley watched, as the image switched to what looked like a man in the same uniform as Ron and this Janeway person, though he was strapped to some kind of nightmarish table. A man in the same armor she had seen before walked up to the man strapped down, and then injected him with something through the organic hand's knuckles.

"_The assimilation process has two basic steps, the first being obvious._" The image changed to that of red blood cells and some sort of machine attaching itself to each cell. "_Nanoprobes are injected into the victim's bloodstream, which begin rewriting the DNA, and subverting organs to the process, creating implants within the body._" The image changed to that of a woman with pale skin and implants _growing out_ of her _head_. "_Once the process is complete, the body is ready for the next step of the assimilation process, running on automatic as a neural transceiver in imbedded in the upper spinal column, and a neural processor is embedded just below the ribcage, often on top of the victim's clothing. Other, more optional, surgical modifications include replacement of a forearm with a functioning prosthetic, and one eye with a holographic imaging scanner that can see through the entire EM band. After modifications are finished, the new Borg drone is connected to the hive mind, becoming part of the collective conscious, wholly robbed of all sense of individuality, and placed a purpose in mind, and a designation assigned to reflect that purpose._"

Ashley continued watching, horrified that there was a race out there that did something like this.

"_Most Borg retain the experiences they had when they were individuals, adding to those experiences with every individual they are forced to add to the collective, although processing drones retain the experiences of all assimilated Borg on their respective vessels._"

Ashley looked at Rutia fearfully. "He…"

"He was one of the latter."

"_The Borg are ruthless and efficient, and although we have dealt them heavy blows over the years, they come back stronger than ever. This concludes part one of the lesson. Thank you for your time._"

The hologram winked out. "So… that's what you meant when you said he had even more memories than you," Ashley said. "It's… it's hard to believe something like these… Borg… exist."

The lights dimmed slightly. "_Warning,_" the computer informed. "_Auxiliary power at 32%._"

"Wonderful," Rutia remarked. "At least the Raging Tempest doesn't have the same warp core problems we have."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- Deck 16, Main engineering**_

* * *

Ron marched into main engineering, a sour look on his face. "Lieutenant Commander, where the FUCK is my warp power?"

On top of a grav lift, fiddling with a piece of dilithium, was his chief engineer. "I'm working on it," she said. "This warp core is a new model, based on designs taken from the Undine, the Solanae Dyson Sphere AND the Voth! I barely finished reading the technical manual before we got sent here!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, just put the dilithium back in the chamber!"

"If we suffer a warp core breach, I blame you!" She placed the crystal back in the slot before closing it and lowering herself back to the deck. "Restart the reaction."

After a few seconds, there was a _thrum_ of power as the Matter/Antimatter reactions restarted, and the lights soon returned to full intensity.

"What do you know, we're not dead," Sonja remarked.

"_Bridge to captain._"

"Go ahead."

"_The _Raging Tempest _just regained warp power, and we've finished our scans of the _Normandy_. Looks like they have something on their ship that Commander Henderson might want to look at._"

"Understood," Ron replied before he looked at her. "Contact the _Tempest_ and get on the horn with their chief engineer. I want you both on this."

He then left main engineering as Sonja sat at a console. "Computer, open a channel to the _Raging Tempest_, directed at their chief engineering officer," she said.

Soon, the image of a blond-haired, blue eyed man with a beard appeared on the screen. "_This is Matthew Williams, Chief Engineer of the _Raging Tempest," he said. "_To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?_"

"Sonja Henderson, your counterpart on the _Ra-Cailum_," she replied as she brought up several scans and looked through them briefly. "We might have something we need to contend with, seeing as that ship out there doesn't use warp drive. I'm forwarding the data to you now." She pressed a button on the console, sending him the data.

"_Thanks,_" he replied, looking over the data. "_Hmm… you're right, they don't seem to use warp drive, but they've got some different power source… Look near the rear of the ship - they've got some energy signature I've never seen before…_"

"I sent a shuttle to recover the power core of the ship we took down," Sonja informed. "Maybe that thing'll give us some answers."

"_Well, at least we'll have one engineer who knows what he's doing._"

Sonja's eyes narrowed. "Do you see the warp core behind me? It's based on Undine, Voth and Dyson Sphere technology. YOU have a standard warp core. I have to deal with a finicky prototype!"

"_Point taken,_" Matthew replied, "_Though I had my own problems - re-crystallizing Dilithium isn't a walk in the park, you know, especially when your Captain is a combat-fueled adrenaline junkie who commands from the helm, and wants it done _**now** _so that he can fight. Standard safe timeframe for re-crystallizing Dilithium is three days, two if you want to rush it - I got it done in _**six hours**_, and even then I still ran a few test patterns to make sure there were no flaws before I started the core back up._"

Sonja was not impressed. "I'll be seeing you in a few minutes, Commander. That power core will be delivered to your ship. Henderson out." She closed the channel and got to her feet. "Mitod! You have the ship! Try to make that thing not blow up while I'm gone!" The Orion transfer glanced back at her superior before simply nodding.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- sickbay**_

* * *

"You know, I can remove those implants if they're giving you headaches, Lieutenant."

Kaidan blinked before he looked at Rutia again. "Huh?" he asked.

"What, you think those biobeds are just there to sleep on? They've got advanced medical sensors. The tricorders are better at taking detailed scans, but the basic ones the biobeds made on you say that there's a set of implants that are giving you migraines. Why they're even there, I don't know, and I really don't care."

Kaidan shook his head. "Thanks, but not really necessary," he said. "I need those to control my Biotics. At least migraines are the only side-effects - some of the others with L2-Implants aren't nearly as lucky. L3-Implants would let me do the same thing without migraines, but I don't think people know just what would happen if we removed the old models to put in new ones."

"I can do it with my eyes closed."

"Doctor, I-"

"Lieutenant, I studied medicine at Starfleet Academy for 8 years. I know the anatomy of every race in the Federation and I can perform routine operations on them in my sleep. I was the one who operated on Captain Pinkerton and helped him regain his humanity after the ship I was on recovered him from the Vega colony. Removing and replacing those implants is NOTHING to me."

Kaidan thought for a bit, before he nodded. "Alright," he said. "Once we can get to somewhere where they install those kind of Implants, like the Citadel, or Arcturus Station, I'll let you see about trying to get the new ones in."

"No need to go anywhere," Rutei informed. "The nurse's tricorder scanned those implants of yours and uploaded the specs into our computer. With a bit of work, I can make them better then your L3 model implants."

"And you're a tech specialist?" Kaidan asked.

"No," Rutia replied as the door to sickbay opened, allowing Ron entry. "He is."

"Doctor, you rang?" Ron asked.

Rutia pointed in the direction of her office. The captain sighed, walking into it.

"Him?" Kaidan asked, semi-incredulously.

"Remember, the man was a processing drone," Rutia explained. "He had millions of minds with specialities ranging from cybernetics to medicine to just about everything going through his head. Came at a price, though."

"I'd imagine," Kaidan remarked. "Probably has a hard time keeping all those memories straight."

"That and he has nightmares of the day he was assimilated." Rutia looked through her surgical equipment, finding something that resembled a scalpel. "Now, I suggest you strip, Lieutenant: that armor's only going to get in the way."

"Um… are you sure that's really nece-" Kaidan began, flushing a little bit from embarrassment at being told to strip in a place with so many women.

"I. Insist." The evil smile returned, and Kaidan paled before complying.

"I'll, uh, go take a walk. See what's around," Ashley said, quickly making her retreat from sickbay.

"I think I'll join her," Nihlus added, muttering something about 'evil witch doctor women' before quickly walking (although Kaidan swore he was running) out of sickbay.

"Isane, get my surgical gown," Rutia ordered. "I'm going to need it."

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest** _**\- Main Engineering**_

* * *

Matt stood in one of the few Cargo Bays they had on the ship. Early in the ship's life, while it was being completely rebuilt from the _Defiant_-Class USS _Tempest_, Captain Yamato had decided the Aft Torpedo Launchers were really not getting enough use to justify why they were there. So, the Aft Launchers had been completely removed during the rebuild, and the space where their Torpedo Magazines would have been were converted to cargo holds - rather useful at this point in time, because the alien power core was too large to fit in Main Engineering without obstructing movement.

"Any luck on finding out what the hell that unknown material in the core is?" he asked.

Sonja ran her tricorder over the core several times. "Well, I can rule out almost every single substance in the Ra-Cailum's database."

"That's surprising," Matt replied, before looking over at Kim, who was using her own Tricorder to look it over. "What about you, Kim, you have anything?"

"Well, like Sonja said, Matt, this thing isn't in any of the databases," Kim replied. "Can't tell much else, really."

"And I actually have a partial match to something in the database," Sonja informed.

"What's that?" Matt asked.

Sonja scoffed slightly. "It's ironic. We have the shit lining our warp cores as I speak." She closed the tricorder and sighed. "It's trilithium resin. Sure, a few things are different, and there's a few molecules added to it, but it's basically detoxified trilithium resin."

"What the…" Matt remarked, looking at the core with shock… and a bit of fear. "Didn't some people use Trilithium in weapons once? Star killing weapons?"

Sonja glanced at the man and shook her head. "That's not trilithium resin. that's detoxified and crystallized trilithium. Some el-Aurian jackass named Soran blew up the Amargosa star and nearly blew up the Veridian system, if it weren't for Picard and the E-D. Course, you all know what happened to that ship. Trilithium resin's used in Romulan plasma torpedoes: it's the primary detonator. Hell, even the Republic still uses that shit."

"Ah," Matt replied. "Still, these people are using it as a power source?"

Sonja sighed and checked over the core. "If the electrical current's changed, it can reduce or increase the mass of an object. Plus I'm detecting a few impurities associated with soil and rock. This shit's naturally occurring."

"Huh," Mat remarked. "That's very interesting… and would explain why they don't have Warp Drive - drop an object's mass enough, and you can achieve FTL with conventional sublight engines."

"Regardless, Capt'n wants this thing hooked up to your power grid: he's planning on accompanying the _Normandy_ back to this Citadel place and judging from information we lifted from their database, these things are the only way to connect to something called a 'mass relay'. We get this one hooked up to yours and I can build one on the Ra-Cailum."

"Alright," Matt replied. "Let's get this done."

* * *

USS Ra-Cailum - bridge

* * *

Ashley had been wandering the ship for what seemed like hours, finding her way from sickbay to the shuttlebay to main engineering before getting into a turbolift and heading for the bridge. It was a rather… freaky experience, seeing as the lift literally shoved her onto the ceiling after she pushed a few controls.

She'd managed to get her feet back down to the floor when the lift arrived, the doors opening and allowing her to step out into something that was smaller, and yet more high-tech, than anything she'd seen before.

"...operations nominal, Commander," a voice was saying. "We have a slight issue with the shield generator, though."

"Tell Mitod to get a team to take a look at it. The last thing we need is to lose our shields in the middle of a firefight," a blonde woman said before turning her gaze to Ashley. "Well, this is a surprise."

"Sorry if I'm intruding," Ashley replied. "Been wandering around the ship somewhat aimlessly."

"For 46 minutes and 36 seconds, prior to you stepping into that turbolift," the woman replied.

Ashley blinked. "What?"

"Our security systems have been tracking you since you left sickbay. Corpsa and I have been making bets on where you'd end up next. Speaking of which, where's our alien friend?"

"You mean Nihlus?" Ashley asked. "Not sure where he's ended up - we ended up going in different directions after we left sickbay. And speaking of sickbay, you have a really scary doctor."

"Only one person on this ship doesn't fear her, and I wasn't talking to you. Cor?"

A blue skinned, white-haired woman with... 'Are those antennae?' on top of her head chuckled briefly.

"Deck 34, near the antimatter storage pods. He's lost."

Ashley's eyes widened. "Antimatter?" she asked, somewhat shocked. "You guys use antimatter?!"

"Yeah, so what? It's normal. Deuterium/antideuterium reaction, plus-"

"Ma'am, your brother is not going to be happy with you if he finds out you're talking about our power generation systems."

Ashley's eyes were wide in shock. "Antimatter… We've been able to harness it, but not in such a way that we could power starships - let alone something of this size," she remarked.

"Well, we have more than just a few grams of the shit in the pods," the blonde replied. "Speaking of which, Corpie, can you beam him out of there? If the magnetic containment fields go offline because of him screwing around down there, there's going to be an explosion that'll make all of our photon torpedoes look like a sparkler!"

"I'm locking onto him now. And don't call me Corpie."

A few seconds later, a sparkling column of light deposited Nihlus on the bridge. "Huh?" he asked, looking around.

"Welcome to the bridge," the blond replied. "I'm Lieutenant Commander Riza Pinkerton. I'm going to have to ask you to never go below deck 30 ever again: those are the bowels of the ship, and if anything goes boom down there, everything within a few thousand kilometers of _us _goes boom."

Nihlus blinked. "But… how-"

"Nihlus, they use _Antimatter_ as a power source," Ashley informed. "And apparently they use a _lot_ of it."

Nihlus' eyes widened. "Are you serious, Chief Williams?" he asked.

"Technically, no. We use a controlled enhanced matter/antimatter reaction. And Commander Henderson will be pissed off if you did anything down there: that warp core is a prototype." Suddenly, the lights went out, followed by the feeling of weightlessness. "…I am going to fucking kill you."

If he could, Nihlus would have looked sheepish. "…oops?" he said, nervously.

A roar of rage was the response to that.

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

The sight of the _Ra-Cailum_'s blue warp plasma cooling vents and red Bussard collectors being black as night and the lack of lights was not a good sign. The sight of the _Ra-Cailum_'s chief engineer looking livid was even worse. "ARGH!"

"Umm… should we get you back over there?" Matt asked cautiously.

"I! JUST! FIXED! THAT!" The roar of rage could probably be heard three systems away. (On the Citadel, people wondered why they heard a loud-sounding scream out of nowhere) The Mars-born engineering officer ran to the transporter room, cautiously and fearfully followed by the _Raging Tempest_'s engineering crew.

"A… anything we can do to help?" Matt asked.

"STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!" Sonja roared back before her form disappeared in a transporter beam.

The RT crew backed away from the transporter room, even though she was no longer there. "I'm scared," said one of the younger engineers.

"Agreed," Matt replied. "She's got quite the temper." He shivered a bit. "Let's get back to work on linking that local power core to our systems."

"R… right," the rest of the engineers replied.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- somewhere between decks 1 and 16**_

* * *

Nihlus had rarely felt fear since joining the Spectres. Confusion, apprehension and such, yes, but not fear. NOW he had something to fear as Riza Pinkerton chased him through the Jefferies tubes in zero-g. The crew didn't do a damn thing to stop her: if anything, they treated it as _business as usual_.

'_Is _every woman on this ship _scary, crazy, or both?!_' Nihlus thought to himself as he shoved off another bulkhead, shooting down another tube to try and escape the blond berserker currently on his tail.

He made his way into a main corridor, but this proved to be a mistake, as Riza had pulled out what appeared to be a fucking scythe and was leaping after him with it in hand. Needless to say, the Turian was not wanting to get close to that thing. "FUCK!"

Another roar was heard as a woman with brown hair forced the doors to the transporter room open, wielding a pair of nasty-looking… Nihlus wasn't sure if they were knives or knuckledusters.

Still, with the look in her eyes, he didn't want to stick around and ask, as he immediately bolted away from both her and Riza.

* * *

Mitod kicked the warp core, somehow reactivating the M/AM reaction before everyone fell to the deck with a scream or two. "Sounds like Riza and Sonja got pissed off," she muttered.

"HELP ME!" came another scream, this one filled with fear.

She shook her head and got back to work, as the warp core wasn't going to keep itself running.

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy**

* * *

"OK," Anderson said, looking at his Ground Team, which was now reassembled in the briefing room, minus Jenkins but with the addition of Ashley. "So the Geth were led by Saren, who managed to get away. Shepard and Yamato were both caught by the Beacon and received some kind of vision, before you were all transported to the larger of their ships, where they upgraded Kaidan's implants so he doesn't have migraines anymore, and Nihlus ticked off their chief engineer by doing something that accidentally shut down their reactor mere hours after they'd gotten it up and running." He sighed. "Am I missing anything?"

"Only that Nihlus is currently in the Ra-Cailum's sickbay, undergoing major surgery," Ashley remarked. "Those two were pissed off."

"And he let them off the hook?"

"I think the Captain threw them in the brig," Shepard remarked, having regained consciousness in time to witness the aftermath, "but he was a hair's breath from going on a rampage himself, so…"

Anderson sighed again. "Well, once he's back to full health, and their ships have been modified to use the relays, we'll head to the Citadel - we need to get all this information to the Council."

"I think the _Raging Tempest_ is ready," Kaidan informed. "The _Ra-Cailum_'s actually building their own ME core."

"Wait, what?" Anderson asked. "Don't you need Eezo for that?"

"Apparently, they can make it."

Anderson sighed. "Of course they can," he said.

"I think it's a waste product from their M/AM reactor," Kaidan continued. "They just need to electrochemically alter it to be, well, eezo."

"And they're doing that right now," Anderson replied, with yet another sigh. "Remind me to add 'don't fuck with these people' to my report."

"Yes sir," Shepard replied.

"That'll be all for now," Anderson informed. "Dismissed. And welcome to the _Normandy_, Chief Williams."

"Thank you, sir," Ashley replied, as they all left the room, though Shepard and Hitomi stayed behind.

"Sorry for getting you dragged into that vision business too, Nicole," Hitomi said.

"Not your fault, Hitomi," Shepard replied. "Besides, we have bigger problems now."

Hitomi nodded. "True," she said, before smiling. "But let's not worry about those problems for now."

She then pulled Shepard into a passionate kiss.

Anderson, who had been waiting at the door for Shepard and Hitomi to come out, could soon hear sensual moans coming from within the briefing room. He smiled ruefully, before setting the door to not open until they were ready to come out.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- Captain's ready room**_

* * *

"Ladies, while I understand your desire for vengeance, that poor son of a bitch in sickbay is barely hanging on by a thread," Ron informed. "That LAST thing I need to deal with is political bullshit." Both women exchanged a look before looking back at their CO. "Consider yourselves on probation for the time being. When you're not on duty, you're to report to the brig. That's the way it's going to be for the next two weeks."

"Yes, sir," Sonja replied.

"Yes, Onii-san," Riza agreed.

Both turned to leave. "By the way…" They looked back at him. "Next time, leave a piece for me." Ron tapped the monomolecular kilij sitting on his desk. "Report to your stations and get us to this Citadel."

They nodded, before leaving the ready room.

Ron went back to work on his monitor, reading through Starfleet's rules and regulations. He had heard of Captain Yamato's disregard for certain regs. Something he intended to put an end to. If it weren't for the Klingon War, Takeshi wouldn't be commanding a starship. '_Then again, neither would I, as I would still be at Starfleet Medical._' The ship shuddered slightly as it made contact with the mass relay, sending them on their way to the Citadel.

* * *

**Takeshi Yamato: And so the story of Crossover begins once more… though things are a bit different this time around.**

**Ron the True Fan: Mostly because I'm limiting Jorn's pull on certain events. Seriously, there's a reason I use canon while changing as little as possible: limiting the headaches I get.**

**Takeshi Yamato: Not to mention the Shepard/Hitomi Pairing is already established this time around. For those curious - in this version, Shepard and Hitomi were already starting to become closer than friends by the time of the Elysium Blitz, and after the events of the Blitz, where Shepard saved Hitomi's life several times, with Hitomi returning the favor an equal amount of times, the two realized just how close they were, and admitted their feelings to each other.**

**And yes, this means that Shepard and Hitomi are both following the War Hero backstory of holding the line at the Blitz. And they both got nominated by Nihlus for the Spectres from the word 'go'.**

**Ron the True Fan: And we've introduced a new beginning, thanks to Delta Rising. And for those wondering why I'm not working on **_**HAH URE**_… **Patriot-112 is why. He's NEVER on, and he's involved. Blame him.**

**Takeshi Yamato: Or, rather, blame his workaholic grandfather, who pulls him into project after project, leaving him little time to actually help us with the stories he's a part of.**

**Ron the True Fan: It works.**

**Ja Ne!**


	2. Chapter 1: Declarations of War

**Ron the True Fan: Do I LOOK like Gene Roddenberry, or that I work for Paramount or CBS?! Tell the bloodsucking lawyers to piss off!**

**Takeshi Yamato: We also don't own Mass Effect, or anything else that might make a cameo in this story… what can I say, I love importing things from other franchises and tweaking them to fit the destination! It still belongs to whomever created it, though.**

**117Jorn: We just own our characters and their shit. HIT IT! :D**

* * *

_**Serpent Nebula**_

* * *

_Captain's log, Stardate 87035.7, Commanding Officer, USS Ra-Cailum recording. In the past 34 hours, my ship and the Sao Paulo-class Raging Tempest have been sent into an alternate quantum reality. A parallel universe, in layman's terms. We provided assistance to a colony under attack, as per Starfleet regulations, and are enroute to a large station called the Citadel, which is approximately the same location as Cardassia Prime, only the system does not exist. I hope to get answers to my questions. And not to cause a diplomatic incident._

* * *

Three ships appeared near the Mass Relay into the Serpent Nebula. In the lead was the _Normandy_, followed by the _Ra-Cailum_, with the _Raging Tempest_ bringing up the rear.

"We're closing in on the station, Captain," Riza informed.

"Slow to one-quarter impulse," Ron replied. "Maintain a security alert, and try not to cause any problems."

A beep was the answer to that. "Oh crap."

"_Unidentified vessels, state your identity and purpose for entering Citadel space,_" came over the comms.

"_This is Captain Takeshi Yamato of the United Federation of Planets Starship _Raging Tempest_,_" came Takeshi's voice over the comms. "_We were invited here to the Citadel by the Captain of the _Normandy _after helping deal with a rather sticky situation near Eden Prime._"

"_We don't recognize a 'United Federation of Planets',_" came the reply. "_State your correct identity immediately._"

Ron's already strained patience reached its limit. "This is Captain Pinkerton of the _Ra-Cailum_, same nationality," he said. "As per Starfleet Regulation 3, Paragraph 12, I am authorized to say this." His eyes narrowed. "Point those guns somewhere else or you won't HAVE guns to point!"

"Sir, that regulation's meant for dire emergencies, as in 'we're all going to die' emergencies," Corpsa reminded.

"I'm allowed to interpret the regs in any fashion I wish, Lieutenant," Ron replied. "Besides, I don't like threats."

"_And we _**are** _using our correct nationalities,_" Takeshi said over the comms. He was trying to be diplomatic, but Ron could tell that his patience was definitely running low, too. "_It's an admittedly long story, but we'll explain it properly to your government if we can land and be granted an audience._"

Ron stood up, walking to the turbolift after gesturing to cut the comm. "Keep the ship within 6000 kilometers of the station," he said. "They do anything that even remotely threatens this ship… shoot them."

"Your time with the Borg didn't make you more patient and tolerant, that's for sure."

"I spent 7 years on Earth, 4 on Vulcan, then 7 more on frontier planets. That kind of makes you more rough around the edges."

"Makes you curse more, too, it seems."

Ron slung the type-3/2, which he had been carrying since Eden Prime, over his shoulder before walking into the turbolift. "Captain's Yacht."

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

"Well, here's definitely hoping that they let us land," Takeshi remarked. "Don't want to start an interdimensional war just because someone decided to shoot first, ask questions later."

"Captain, the Ra-Cailum is launching her captain's yacht," Kim reported.

"Sending us a text message, too," Rina informed. "'Hang on a second,' it says."

"Guess Ron has a bit of a plan," Takeshi said. "Let's see what happens."

Takeshi didn't need to see as he was enveloped in a transporter beam and deposited in a seat behind the cockpit on the yacht. "You should REALLY try remodulating your shields more often," Ron said. "Beaming you out was child's play."

Takeshi sighed. "I take it we're just going by ourselves?" he asked. "An initial delegation, no other crew?"

"I have a security team in the cargo hold, in case someone does something stupid," Ron informed. "Besides, I left orders for my crew should we not contact them in half an hour."

Takeshi sighed again. "Well, can you send a message with similar instructions to my ship?" he asked. "Also, perhaps we could bring my security chief along, too?"

"Captain, bringing your wife along - yes, I read your personnel file - is unnecessary," Ron informed. "The only reason I have a security team on this thing is because of regulations. Besides, this is a diplomatic mission, not a surgical strike. We don't need a sniper here." The yacht headed directly for the station, gunning past the dozen or so cruisers at half-impulse.

Takeshi sighed and nodded. "Alright," he said. "Well, at least I have my sword." He fingered the hilt of the Japanese Katana resting on his hip. "Hope I don't need to use it."

"You won't, because you're not bringing it in with you. You're leaving it here." Ron left the cockpit, heading for an arms locker.

Takeshi sighed again as he followed Ron. "Why do I need to leave it?" he asked. "I mean, I wear it on my uniform to a lot of official functions, even when I'm not wearing my Dress Uniform - given that it's a family heirloom from the Japanese Feudal Era, it has as much ceremonial purpose as it does combat."

"The less we look intimidating, the better. I'm not bringing a phaser rifle onto that station." He picked out two weapons: type-1 'cricket' phasers. Barely the size of a human thumb, they were rarely used, but perfect for concealment. "If you don't feel safe without the damn thing, that's your problem. But until these people are used to us, we're going to play it safe. And that means by the book." He gave Takeshi one of the crickets.

Takeshi nodded as he took the weapon. "Alright," he said, reluctantly removing the sword from his hip. "Though if you'd given me more advanced warning, Matt's been working on a miniaturized cloaking generator for concealing weapons."

"That's going to go over well." The yacht made its' way into a docking platform, completely under autopilot. "Remember, don't antagonize them. The last thing we need is a firefight. We might have the weaponry advantage, but better to avoid a fight then to start one."

"Got it," Takeshi replied. "If they shoot at me, though, I _**will**_ return the favor. I'll keep it set on heavy stun, though."

"That's regs for you." The hatch opened and allowed them to exit, with a full local security team pointing weapons at them. "Well, this reminds me of my last visit to Drozana Station."

"Agreed," Takeshi replied.

"Hold it, people. Besides barrelling past the fleet, these guys haven't done anything to warrant guns pointed their way." A human gestured his hand for them to lower their weapons. Which they did. "I'm Captain Bailey, Citadel Security. You two are?"

"Ronald Pinkerton and Takeshi Yamato, commanding officers of the _Ra-Cailum_ and _Raging Tempest_, in that order."

Bailey looked between the two. "Ok, the Council's been clamoring to speak with you two. First Contact procedure and all."

"Right," Takeshi replied. "Well, best not to keep them waiting."

"Well, just to make sure, both of you should carry a weapon unless you want a C-Sec officer to escort you after the meeting. They're already in session, so we should hurry." He led them to an elevator, pressing a few holographic keys to send them on their way. "Both of you are human?"

"Yeah, though we're not from some separatist colonies or anything like that," Takeshi replied. "Like we told the guys out in space, it's a long story."

"Technically true for him," Ron corrected. "Not so much for me."

Before Bailey could ask Ron to elaborate, they had arrived at where they needed to be.

"…_just another attempt by the humans to make a pass at our reputation, Councilors. I was nowhere near Eden Prime at the time of this attack._" A massive hologram of Saren was in midair, only a few meters from three non-humans wearing official robes of some sort.

"Hey, asshole!" Ron yelled. "Nice to see you again!"

Takeshi just sighed and facepalmed. Trust Ron to be extra crude when he met people who ticked him off.

It did, however, work, as Saren looked directly at them. He remembered, it seemed. "_You!_"

"Yeah, cockbite, me!" Ron replied. "I remember seeing you run off from the colony in a gunship! Also, Captain Anderson asked me to deliver something to someone named Udina. Anyone know where he is?"

"I'm Udina," said the Human Ambassador to the Citadel as he walked up. "What is it you have for me?"

He tossed a datachip to Udina. "I think you're going to like this."

Udina accessed the datachip, which started playing footage of Saren and several Geth, with the former giving them orders.

All eyes went to Saren. "_Uh… There is a very good reason for this!_"

The middle Councilor, a blue-skinned woman who looked different than any Bolian, Andorian, or Benzite, crossed her arms. "Then please," she said. "Enlighten us on your reason for working with the Geth to attack a human colony."

"…_It's a fake?_"

"Another one like you - I don't know the name of your race or your job - gave Commander Shepard that chip, before Anderson sent it back to my ship. Try again, asshole."

Saren cut the transmission out in response. "I love my job," Ron remarked.

"Well, I think that makes things quite clear," the Councilor on the right remarked.

"Agreed," the Councilor on the left, who was of the same race as both Saren and Nihlus, replied. "We'll need to strip Saren of his Spectre Status, and send another Spectre after him."

"But first," the middle councilor said, "I ask you both, who are you? Both of you are human, but your uniforms aren't Alliance. In fact, they don't even match."

"The uniform thing is a VERY long story," Ron replied. "But it's a long story that I really don't have time to tell-"

"Ra-Cailum _to Pinkerton._" came Sonja's voice over Ron's commbadge.

Ron sighed before tapping the commbadge. "Pinkerton."

"_One of those fucking idiots just SHOT at us!_"

Everyone's eyes widened as they heard that. Except for Takeshi, who just sighed. "Hate it when some idiot with an itchy trigger finger decides to shoot first and ask later during a First Contact," he said.

"Well, Sonja, I think you know what to do," Ron said.

"_With pleasure,_" Sonja replied. "_No one shoots at _my ship _and gets away with it!_"

"Should we be worried for whoever shot your ship?" the Councilor on the right asked.

"Depends. How many pairs of fresh pants do your ships normally carry?"

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"Corpsa, target that asshole and take out his weapons," Sonja asked. "Then prepare for the Brown Note."

"You like doing that, don't you?"

"Making people shit their pants out of fear?" Sonja asked. "Fuck yes."

Corpsa sighed. "We spend too much time around the Captain," she said. "We're picking up his habit of swearing."

The _Ra-Cailum_ fired her dorsal phasers at a sort of winged ship, punching through the hull and taking out the weapons with ease. THEN the humiliation began as the _Ra-Cailum_ used a number of tractor pulses to send the ship into a random spin that they couldn't get themselves out of.

"And thus, they begin to shit thyselves." Sonja remarked, before the _Ra-Cailum_ shook again as the largest ship fired on them.

The _Ra-Cailum_ fired again, another phaser blast passing through the large ship's shields like they weren't even there, just barely grazing the hull.

"They're backing off: 6000 kilometers and opening," Corpsa reported.

"Send them a transmission with the following: 'This is Commander Sonja Henderson of the _Ra-Cailum_. The next jackass that takes potshots at this ship will not survive to tell the tale, because the next time's going to involve a matter/antimatter torpedo!'" Sonja ordered.

"Roger," Corpsa replied. She only hoped this didn't completely screw with the negotiations on the station nearby…

* * *

_**Citadel - Council chamber**_

* * *

"One of our ships is adrift, and your ship nearly hit the _Destiny Ascension_!" the Councilor on the left remarked. "Not to mention this warning your Commander Henderson sent about an antimatter torpedo is utter nonsense!"

"Not if we actually HAVE antimatter weapons, Councilor" Ron replied. "If you want a demonstration, I can gladly provide one for you outside the nebula."

"Enough!" the central Councilor yelled. "If your tale is so long, I have a way for us to get the information we need without causing any more unnecessary violence."

Ron chuckled. "Finally, the voice of reason! What's the offer?"

"Those of my kind, the Asari, have the ability to Join our minds to others, allowing those Joined to share memories," she explained. "I can join my mind to yours, see your story through your memories."

"A watered-down Vulcan mind meld. I love going through those!"

All present wondered what was wrong with Ron. "You're crazy."

"I have gone through a LOT of shit in my life. As such, I volunteer for the melding. Should be interesting."

The central Councilor stepped down from her platform, heading over to Ron. "Very well, Captain," she said. "This shouldn't take too long." She took one of his hands in hers, and closed her eyes. When they re-opened, they were pitch black as she said, "Embrace Eternity!"

Ron went rigid for a moment, then the the connection broke off with the Asari backing away from him as quickly as she could. "What the HELL are you?!" she asked in shock.

"Guess she saw the Borg," Ron said. "Never pretty."

"Borg?" Udina asked. "Sounds Swedish."

"You wish," Ron replied. "They're a pseudo-race of beings that assimilate others into a hive mind, destroying their individuality in the process. I was assimilated 8 years ago. Didn't age a day, since I was assimilated as an adult. If you want more information, I'll give you limited access to our databases. Try accessing anything beyond what I give you access to, and there will be a problem."

"V… very well," the Councilor on the right replied, before looking at the Asari. "Tevos, what all did you see?"

"They're from an alternate universe," Tevos replied, still somewhat in shock. "I'll… write everything down later. Both of you are dismissed, Captains. Your crews will not be given any trouble, should they board the station."

Ron tapped his commbadge. "Sonja, you get all that?" he asked.

"_Loud and clear, boss,_" came the reply. "_We sent the same to the _Tempest."

"Good," Ron replied. "I'm going back to the Isis and grabbing my gun. Take, you want your sword, come with. Have fun, kiddies!"

Takeshi nodded, and the two left the Council Chambers.

"What did you see?" they heard one of the Councilors ask Tevos.

"Nightmares of the kind you don't want to know of, Valern," Tevos replied as Takeshi and Ron entered the elevator.

* * *

Both men walked through the Presidium, the taller of which was currently grinning like a loon. Then again, Takeshi got the feeling he WAS a loon.

"Definitely a massive undertaking, this place," Takeshi remarked. "Not as large as a Dyson Sphere, but the effort that must have been involved… It doesn't even look like we're on a station right now."

"I've seen bigger," Ron replied.

A bullet barely missed their respective heads as someone in a suit rolled past them, with a pair of men firing at… seemingly her. "This happens every time," Ron remarked as he pulled out the cricket and fired it at one of the idiots. "Gentlemen, I would think about not doing that again."

"You deal with the idiots," Takeshi told Ron. "I'll see to who they were pursuing." He turned and went to the side of the suited woman. "Are you alright, miss?" he asked her.

"I'm fine, but I took a round with polonium earlier," she said. "I've got a fever."

"Isn't that generally a death sentence, period?" Ron asked. "I mean, polonium and organic material don't mix."

"No clue, to be honest," Takeshi replied. "Still, we should get her medical treatment ASAP. Your ship's got bigger medical facilities than mine, Ron."

"And we have no clue what her medical needs are," Ron replied. "My doctor might be the best in the fleet, but even SHE needs information on a species before she operates."

"There's a… clinic," the woman informed. "In the wards. The general hospitals won't bother."

"That's a story I'd like to hear, young lady," Ron replied. "Come on, let's get you down there."

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

Waiting on the ship for their Captain to get back - and Linda Allster-Yamato was rather ticked about Ron just grabbing her husband for the meeting with no warning, thank you very much - the _Raging Tempest_'s Command Staff decided to do some research on the _Ra-Cailum_'s crew.

"Rina, you got anything from their personnel files yet?" Kim asked.

"Only that I've discovered one thing in common with their captain," the Bajoran replied. "All of them wouldn't have made it past ensign if it weren't for the war." All of them were highly skilled, and were probably even better than their counterparts on the _Enterprise_-F - the _flagship _of the _entire freaking STARFLEET_, which was supposed to have _THE _best, _**bar none**_ \- but had… issues. Riza would take orders from no one but her brother, for example.

"Well, you have to admit that our Captain is somewhat similar," came the bass rumble of Brok'tan, the ship's XO, a Klingon who had decided to join Starfleet. "He might have eventually made it to Lieutenant Commander if the war hadn't happened, but he'd have been quite happy as a starship helmsman if the war hadn't happened."

"The best part is that our Captain and theirs are VERY similar," Rina said as she brought up Ron's personnel file, showing his place of birth: Kyoto, Japan.

"He's Japanese?" Kim asked. "Doesn't look like it."

"His parents were Starfleet, he moved around a lot, THEN he joins the service, makes his way up - slowly - to Lieutenant Commander, gets assimilated, then gets rescued by last year's graduating class during the attack on Vega colony," Rina informed.

"Interesting," Linda remarked. "And they likely put him in a command position because we were needing more ship captains at the time… Out of curiosity, does his file say if he has a significant other?"

Rina looked through the file. "None at the Academy - holy shit, he was focused on his career. Attended EVERY class. Man's probably as at home in engineering as Takeshi would be at the helm. Ah, here it is: Natarle Bonaparte, captain of the _Katti_."

"Haven't heard of that one."

"Not surprised," Rina remarked. "She was a _Maelstrom_-class escort, lost in 2401 with all hands. Including him."

Linda paled a bit at that. "So… the woman he loved is either still assimilated by the Borg, since they more than likely ran into Borg… or she's dead…"

"Command was REALLY desperate," Rina said. "They even gave him a fifteen-year-old ship to command, and he handpicked the crew. Three guesses on which ship and which people."

"The _Ra-Cailum_, and its crew," Linda said, getting a nod from Rina. "Well… wow…"

"Hell of a service record as the CO: he fought Colonel Hakeev twice, helped kill him, engaged the Laehval in the same mission, supported the fleet to retake DS9, and was involved in Operation Fluid Dynamics. Of course, that brings up the OTHER problem he has: lack of tact."

"Yeah, he's got about as much tact as a stampeding bull," Linda remarked from what she was seeing. "Remind me if we get back to our universe to start looking into whether Captain Bonaparte is still alive or not - if we can reunite her and Pinkerton, it might mellow him out a bit."

"Doubt it," Rina said. "According to the records, he was WORSE when he was involved with her."

"How can it be WORSE?" Kim practically yelled.

"I'm seeing a long of redactions, so it's pretty bad," Rina informed. "Not every romantic relationship makes someone more stable, and if I'm reading this right, Empress Sela had a bit of a crush on him."

"…ew."

"Anyway, what about Sonja?" Matt asked. "She definitely seems rather… protective… of her ship."

"Well, this is the fun part: she was involved in the _Sao Paulo_ Program," Rina informed. "Made a few suggestions that made it into the final design, but most were cut for making production… easier. Worked on the _Odyssey_ Project for six weeks, then got thrown in the stockade until Pinkerton bailed her out and made her his chief engineer. Hot-blooded in the extreme and generally not someone to piss off."

"As Nihlus can attest to," Kim replied, which got a brief chuckle out of all of them.

"What about their Chief Medical Officer?" asked a Betazoid female with dark blue hair and the standard black eyes, wearing the medical white version of the Odyssey Uniform. "I mean, she seems rather cheerful and friendly, but from what I've seen, and heard from her staff, she can be scary when she wants to and runs her sickbay almost with an iron fist."

"Try neutronium," Rina said as she pulled up the file. "Rutia Yulanra, a joined Trill. she's actually one of the newer recruits, considering her career: she's a 2409 graduate. Studied for 8 years at the Academy, took command of the training ship after the captain was killed and responded to the attack on Vega. Operated on Pinkerton and got him out of borgville." Everyone gave her the look of 'WTF'. "Her words, not mine. Point is, she's as bad as all of them: a misfit. She's just the saniest and scariest."

"Not including her captain," Kim remarked. "These guys seem more at home in the 23rd Century, with Captain Kirk and the original crew of the _Enterprise_."

"Or maybe even the _22nd_ Century, with Archer and the NX-01," Linda added. "Well, we've definitely got an odd crew over there - then again, 'normal' is rather overrated."

"Amen to that."

* * *

_**Citadel - Wards level**_

* * *

"And that is the LAST time I'm going anywhere without a real weapon!" Ron said. "The Type-1's a nice 'surprise, motherfucker!' weapon, but the Type-2 is the REAL weapon of choice."

"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "Though honestly, I prefer using my sword, with a MACO-issue Pulsewave Rifle with the built-in grenade launcher as a back-up." He then turned to the woman. "So, where is this clinic you talked about, miss…"

"Tali'Zorah nar - ow - Rayya," she said. "You two don't look like Alliance personnel."

"Starfleet, United Federation of Planets," Ron replied. "Long story, not enough time to tell it."

"It's just down here," Tali informed. "Keela, I'm on fire in here."

"Highly tempted to do the Borg thing and fix this, but I won't," Ron said.

"Borg?" Tali asked. "Sounds… what's the Earth term… Swedish."

"We wish," Takeshi and Ron said in unison as they entered the clinic, where a human doctor seemed to be waiting.

"Is there a prob - Oh, God, get her over here, NOW!" the Doctor said.

"Oui, oui, docteur," Ron replied. "Donnez-nous d'une minute." the doctor blinked for a moment as Ron half-carried Tali without Takeshi, who was staring at him bug-eyed. "What?"

"Have you always been able to… speak multiple languages and do that with your voice?" Takeshi asked.

"To a degree. Getting Borged made it worse."

"What are you talking about?" the Doctor asked.

"Docteur, nous avons des choses plus importantes à se soucier, oui?"

"Stop speaking French: it's making me uncomfortable," she requested. "I'm too used to English."

"Just take the poor girl and do your thing!" Ron said.

"Right," the doctor said as she helped Tali over to some medical equipment.

"Well, I'm going to get you your sword and my phaser rifle. I'll be back in about 20 minutes," Ron said as he left the clinic, tossing Takeshi his cricket. "Try not to get killed while I'm gone."

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied, before turning to Tali. "So, miss Rayya, do you know why those men were chasing and shooting you?"

"They were working for Saren," she replied. "They wanted the data I took. Take it… to the human ambassador. Ancestors, I feel like death."

"Quite natural, seeing as your immune system barely exists to begin with," the doctor told her as she turned to Takeshi. "I'll do what I can, but if someone IS after her, I would like someone to stay and watch over her. I need to get more medical supplies: I'm running low on dextro-amino compatible antibiotics."

Takeshi filed away the term 'dextro-amino' for later. "Right," he said, before tapping his commbadge. "Yamato to Pinkerton. Ron, think you can get our weapons and get back in less than 20 minutes? Miss Rayya here has information on Saren - we've already helped get him kicked from the Spectres, but this might help us figure out what he's after."

"_I'd like to avoid using the transporters, Captain,_" Ron replied. "_The less we show off, the bet - Oh, shit._" Gunfire was heard on the other end. "_I FUCKING HATE THIS STATION! SCREW THIS: BEAMING BACK!_"

Takeshi sighed as the comm channels closed. "This is starting to get ridiculous," he remarked.

"Welcome to life on the Citadel, Captain…?"

* * *

**Sovereign**_**-class Captain's Yacht **_**Isis**

* * *

When ron rematerialised on the Isis, the first thing he did was grab his phaser rifle, Takeshi's 1000 year old blade, and no less than two Type-2 phasers. "Computer, make a note in the log: NO ONE leaves either ship without being armed!" he said. "Lock onto Captain Yamato's signal and beam me to his location!"

The computer beeped an affirmative, before he was transported back to the clinic.

Takeshi stepped forward and took his sword from Ron, strapping it to his belt where it belonged. "Heard from Miss Rayya that the men chasing her were working for Saren," he said. "Wouldn't be surprised if the guys who tried taking shots at you were also working for him."

"Doubtful. Also, an ACTUAL weapon for you." Ron handed him one of the Type-2s. "A katana is a beautiful weapon, but a steel and iron weapon is utterly USELESS against composite armor and weapons made of alloys that don't normally crop up on earth. You want a bladed weapon, come visit me on the _Ra-Cailum_ after we get out of this bullshit."

Takeshi nodded. "Alright," he said. "Was likely going to need to make a new weapon for myself anyway, given family tradition is to pass the blade on when the firstborn child goes to military training - Starfleet Academy, these days. Might be a bit early for a new weapon, but it should be fine."

"Keď to niekto poruší, mám škodoradostnú radosť."

Takeshi didn't get it. He supposed he wasn't supposed to.

* * *

_**With Shepard and company**_

* * *

"Well, today has been interesting, to say the least," Shepard was reading a file provided by the Asari councilor on what she had learned from Ron's mind. The Borg, in detail, from Starfleet's first encounter to the attack on the Vega Colonies. It was, in effect, the stuff of nightmares.

"Yeah," Hitomi replied. "Definitely glad they conferred Spectre status to the both of us - I get the feeling we'll be sent after Saren, and we're going to need Spectre status to cut through all the red tape."

"_Anderson to Shepard: get your asses up here. Your new friends just got here with someone with information on Saren and the Geth._"

Shepard tapped her omnitool. "On our way, Captain," she said before she turned to Hitomi. "The excitement never ends."

"Agreed, but hey, at least we're not bored," Hitomi replied.

They made their way to the human embassy, where they found who they were expecting, plus a Quarian girl. "Who's the Quarian?" Shepard asked.

"Tali'Zorah vas Neema's her name," Ron replied. "Couple of assholes were trying to kill her. We kinda put an end to that."

"Don't sound so modest," Hitomi remarked.

"I'm being serious," Ron replied.

"Enough," Takeshi said, stopping the argument before it could really get going. "Now, let's hear what Miss Zorah has to say."

"I was beginning my Pilgrimage - my passage into adulthood - when I came upon a Geth patrol on an uninhabited world."

"I've never heard of this pilgrimage before," Hitomi remarked.

"Makes sense to me," Ron said. "Dozens of cultures do that, even on Earth. Best example's the-"

"Captain, I know you're a walking encyclopedia, but we don't have time for a comparison," Anderson informed. "Please continue, miss."

"I managed to get one of the Geth isolated, took it down, and managed to get at its Memory Core. Geth do tend to wipe their Memory Cores when deactivated as a safety measure, but my people created them, long ago - if you're good, and know where to look, you can still get a few bits and pieces."

She played the file from her omnitool. "_Those humans ruined the entire attack!_" Saren's voice was heard. "_The only thing keeping it from being a total disaster was the fact we recovered the information from the Beacon._"

"That's pretty damning," Ron replied

"It's not done, captain," Tali said as she let it play again.

"_Those humans ruined the entire attack!_" Saren's voice said again. "_The only thing keeping it from being a total disaster was the fact we recovered the information from the Beacon._"

"_The Reapers will return, regardless,_" replied another voice.

Ron glanced at Takeshi. "That sounded a lot like Captain Troi. Think she's moonlighting as an evil bitch over here?"

"Likely a completely different person sharing her voice by coincidence," Takeshi replied. "I mean, my XO, Brok'tan, sounds almost exactly like Ambassador Worf, yet they're not related."

The smile on his face disappeared. "Your lack of a sense of humor is disturbing."

"Gentlemen, don't we have bigger things to worry about?" Shepard asked. "Like stopping someone on a genocidal powertrip? For that matter, what in the hell are Reapers?"

"Hyper-advanced machines that, according to the Geth, killed off the Protheans," Tali replied. "They're worshiped as gods by the Geth."

Ron took in a breath. "I'll go talk to the council: soften them up a little," he said. "Starfleet's got PLENTY of experience with this shit."

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied. "I'll stay here, help plan out the next moves. And by the way, I do have a sense of humor, but not every time and place is appropriate for humor."

The captain of the _Ra-Cailum_ walked off, waving back at them as the door closed. "I'm giving you command of the Normandy, Shepard," Anderson informed. "You might be human, but you answer to the Council now. You need to command your own ship. I'll have Udina find you a few people to add to your team: God knows you'll need them."

"I think I'll find my own people," Shepard replied. No offense, but I need people who can do their jobs and do them well."

'_That sounds familiar._'

* * *

_**Council Chambers**_

* * *

"Captain Pinkerton, normally we only allow people who are Spectres and have a request to speak with us access to this chamber," Valern informed

"Councilor, do I strike you as a man who cares about protocol when the hour is nigh and we're all about to die?" Ron asked.

"…No," the Turian Councilor, Sparatus, replied. "So, what did you want to tell us _**this time?**_"

"Well, we have a bit of a problem," Ron said. "More evidence has popped up. Evidence you are probably not going to believe. As such, I am here to… make you believe. As your comrade who is wanting to run the fuck away knows, I cannot screw with your heads. I'm just here to give you a history lesson to make it easier to swallow."

"I… I see…" Tevos replied. "Very well… proceed…"

"Well, the first lesson is this," Ron said. "In 2267 - no that is NOT a mistake - the Federation starship _Enterprise_, registry NCC-1701, encountered a solar system that had been completely fucked over. Planets had been turned to rubble, and the _Enterprise_'s elder sister, the _Constellation_ NCC-1017, had had the living crap beaten out of her. The reason was a massive machine, skinned in neutronium, using a beam that fired antiprotons. A planetkiller, for lack of a better term."

They were all stunned at this, though Valern was also somewhat curious. "What is this… Neutronium?" he asked. "I don't think we've ever encountered it before."

"Not surprising," Ron informed. "Neutronium can only be extracted from the mantle of a dead star. Stuff's heavy as all hell: cubic inch of the stuff weighs a metric ton. Our weapons can't even get through it." '_And you can't mine it either, so I have no problem telling you this._' "It took shoving the practically scrap metal _Constellation_ down the planetkiller's throat to kill it. But that's not the hard part."

Tevos almost didn't want to ask this. "There's more?" she asked after a moment.

"The planetkiller was from outside our galaxy. It took MILLIONS of years to get to the Milky way. I hope you get the point I'm trying to make."

Valern nodded, slightly more perceptive than the other two. "Ancient Technology equates to bad news for you, doesn't it?" he asked.

"Not usually, but in this case, it was run by an AI, one that had been running for countless years. It's not the only one Starfleet's run into: Vaal, a computer system, had been running for millennia before the Enterprise deactivated it when it threatened the ship. another AI, Landru, lasted ten thousand. You have a similar situation: Saren is attempting to bring back a force called the Reapers: hyper-advanced AIs that, from your own accounts, can wipe out civilizations."

Valern and Tevos nodded. "So you're saying this is a legitimate threat, not something Saren is doing to try and deceive the Geth into working with him," Tevos said.

"As my father used to say before he was killed by an Undine, 'weird shit is multiversal'. You can quote me on that later. The _Enterprise_-D also ran into an alien archive about 40 years ago: nearly turned the ship into a sort of recreated alien city." The looks on their faces was impossible to describe. "Yeah, I know. Rule of thumb for anything involving a Federation starship with the name and registry of _Enterprise_, NCC-1701: the weirdest shit ALWAYS happens to them."

"...So we've gathered, Captain. It's still very hard to believe."

"Can't deny that," the human captain said before he began rubbing his temples, attempting to ward off a headache.

"Is there a problem, captain?"

"Something's giving me a headache. Don't know what." The captain of the _Ra-Cailum_ looked back to see the others walking in. "Well, all yours, kids."

"Thank you," Takeshi replied. "Councilors, on our way out of the meeting earlier today we ran into Miss Tali'Zorah nar Rayya here," he indicated the Quarian at this. "She found information from the Geth that is most interesting."

Tali activated her omnitool, playing the recording.

"_Those humans ruined the entire attack!_ _The only thing keeping it from being a total disaster was the fact we recovered the information from the Beacon._"

"_The Reapers will return, regardless._"

Tevos' eyes widened at the second voice. "Matriarch Benezia?" she asked.

"I assume you know her?"

"Yes. She's one of the oldest and wisest of our kind. Matriarchs are powerful biotics, and if Benezia is working with Saren…"

"We'll deal with her," Ron said. "Saren attacked a colony, human or not. Starfleet regulations demanded our response. THEN his flagship attacks a Starfleet vessel. That makes this personal."

"Very well," Tevos replied. "We'll assign Spectres Shepard and Yamato to assist you. Spectres have authority that most people do not - authority you'll need for this search."

"We will also assign Spectre Nihlus to one of your ships" Sparatus said. "I hope you understand that-"

"You're curious and you want to know more about the other side," Ron said. "That's fine. Just make sure he knows what he's in for."

* * *

_**Later - Citadel Security**_

* * *

"I am NOT going back on that ship."

"_Nihlus, be reasonable,_" Sparatus replied over the communications link. "_You have the most experience with them, you're the natural choice._"

"Councilor, might I speak my mind?"

"_Of course._"

"The crew of the _Ra-Cailum_ are completely INSANE. While I am sure Captain Pinkerton had his reasons for picking them, two of them nearly KILLED me, their doctor scares me to the point that I think she could run the ship and I have no doubt the rest of the crew is the same way!"

"_I received the report,_" Sparatus informed. "_And while I admit the actions of the helmswoman and chief engineer were a little… extreme, you must admit they were rather out of sorts that you had, albeit accidentally, 'broken' the ship._"

"I'm not going. Send someone else."

"_Would you feel better if we sent you to the _Raging Tempest?" Sparatus asked. "_Captain Yamato seems to be less willing to kill you._"

Nihlus DID feel safer with the smaller ship. Then again, Pinkerton's crew didn't need to be near him. They had already scarred him for life. "The _Tempest_."

"_We will still assign a Spectre to the _Ra-Cailum," Sparatus said. "_We just need to pick the right one._"

* * *

_**4 hours later - USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- outside Holodeck 2**_

* * *

Takeshi stood outside the holodeck, as requested by Ron. He had something for the younger captain. He was just being secretive about it.

"OK, Ron, what is it you have for me?" Takeshi asked.

"Simple," Ron said as the doors opened, allowing them access, and Takeshi was mildly impressed by the recreation of a traditional Japanese dojo. "It might not look it, but I DO train my crew in the art of swordplay. We just don't use pigstickers like yours. We use better weapons."

"I saw your sister's scythe," Takeshi replied. "And I think your Chief Engineer uses a set of _ushaan-tor_, unless I miss my guess."

Ron grabbed a weapon - a Japanese katana - and tossed it to him. "Believe me when I say that one's better than yours. And yes, it's real: I had the engineering crew make a massive number of the damn things before we left the Alpha Quadrant."

Takeshi took the blade, and gave it a few test swings. "Decent balance," he said. "Comfortable grip, too. What is it made of?"

"What's the hull of a starship made of? Simple: inner core of duranium, outer shell of tritanium with a hint of carbon. The edge is monomolecular, and can cut through anything short of neutronium."

Takeshi's eyes widened a bit at that. "Wow…" he said. "Making Monomolecular edges is rather delicate work, from what I've heard…"

"Yet my entire crew have monomolecular edged weapons as a backup weapon. We just keep them in the armory until I give the word. As you can tell, I prescribe to the condom rule."

"Right," Takeshi replied. "Still, thank you for the blade. I'll definitely put it to good use."

"_Bridge to captain._"

Ron tapped his combadge. "Pinkerton."

"_Captain, a Spectre Tela Vasir is requesting to come aboard,_" Sonja informed. "_Something about 'that Turian coward not being brave enough to deal with a crew of humans'._"

"Oh, this is going to be FUN," Ron remarked. "Permission granted. Tell her to pay a visit to sickbay."

"_I'm going to enjoy this more than you will, Captain. Henderson out._"

Takeshi sighed. "I think your crew might have traumatized Nihlus, Ron."

The smile on the elder captain's face was a sign that he was completely unrepentant. "I don't pick my crew for their personalities. Almost everyone on this ship has some issue or another. I picked them because they were the best at what they do."

"So, to hell with professionalism?"

"Hell no. the only thing I don't prescribe to on this ship is chaos. If they do their jobs when they're on shift, I don't give a shit. I DO demand some adherence to Starfleet regulations: mostly the General Orders."

"Right," Takeshi replied with a nod. "I can understand that."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- sickbay**_

* * *

Tela Vasir walked out, shivering as though she was cold. In reality, she was scared shitless. '_I didn't know doctors could be that terrifying while looking so serene!_' The seemingly human doctor was smiling all the while, but she had the aura of DOOM around her.

Vasir then proceeded to step into one of the turbolifts, expecting it to be just like the elevators on the Citadel.

She pressed several keys on the control pad, then was shoved into the side of the lift at high speed, then onto the roof. "SOMEONE STOP THIS THING!" she yelled. The lift came to a stop before she was shoved onto the floor again, followed by the door opening in the middle of a large room: likely their engine room, if the equipment was even remotely like theirs.

Slowly getting back to her feet, she stepped out of the lift.

"Someone decided to use manual controls without using an inertial dampener. That's begging for trouble." Tela looked at a woman that seemed human, but with green skin, wearing a uniform much like the rest of the crew, only completely undone. "Next time, try using your voice to take you where you need to go."

"Voice Activation, huh?" Vasir asked. "You don't see that much on the Citadel…"

"Welcome to main engineering. Orion exchange officer Mitod, Starfleet rank, Lieutenant, is who I am. I believe you're looking for the bridge. Try getting back in the turbolift and using your voice commands this time."

"Right," Vasir replied, before stepping back into the lift. "Bridge," she said.

There was one problem: the ID was still inactive, and thus... "SHIT!" The Asari Spectre was plastered to the floor again, and thrown against the walls whenever the lift shifted directions. By the time she got to the bridge, she was THROWN out of the turbolift, hitting the railing behind the captain's chair. "I hate this ship."

"Don't let Sonja or Riza hear you say that," Corpsa said. "They might possibly do worse to you than they did that Nihlus guy."

"Don't care. your ship is trying to kill me." She groggily looked at the Andorian. "What are you?"

"An Andorian. Corpsa Trae, tactical officer. Welcome to the _Ra-Cailum_."

The Spectre stood up, shaking her head as the doors behind her opened again.

"Some idiot turned off the dampener in the lift! Had to reactivate it manually! Do you people realize how much of a pain that is?"

"A massive one, Captain."

Vasir turned to see the man who had been there at the Citadel. "You must be Captain Pinkerton," she said. "Tela Vasir, Citadel Special Tactics and Recon."

"Welcome aboard. Enjoying your stay so far?" The man was infuriatingly amused. Tela had been tossed around like a rag doll inside a turbolift and psychologically traumatized by the ship's doctor, all within the space of 45 minutes! "Alright, kids, we have an asshole to hunt down. Inform Captain Yamato that we are ready to get underway, and that he'll be supporting Commander Shepard while we take a look around the galaxy."

"Seems a bit unfair."

"Hey, Sheppy's got to deal with an adrenaline junkie. The galaxy has to deal with ME. Besides, the Science Council would have my head if I didn't take this opportunity to look around the galaxy."

Vasir shook her head. She was beginning to understand why Nihlus turned down the posting on this ship. The crew seemed to be crazy. She was glad that the Council wasn't the only one who wanted info on these newcomers - the Shadow Broker was paying her rather well to discover all she could about them.

"Corpsa, take our guest to her quarters," Ron ordered. "And grant her access to our database: historical, political, that sort of thing."

"Aye, sir" Corpsa replied. Follow me, please."

Tela eyed the turbolift that Corpsa walked into with caution. "Is there a problem?"

"No. It's just that your ship was trying to kill me."

"YOU were trying to kill yourself with that stunt. The lifts are safe, so get in."

Tela sighed, then walked into the lift.

"Deck 8, guest quarters," Corpsa instructed. The doors closed, and the lift began moving, with Tela looking at Corpsa's antennae. "Is there a problem?"

"No, it's… are those real?"

"Yes. They help with my balance." The lift came to a stop, and both stepped out. "The Ra-Cailum is a _Sovereign_-Class starship. 36 decks, with normally 24 inhabited at all times. Standard crew of around 800 personnel, but the Captain likes having more than necessary, so we've got over 1400 people aboard."

"That's definitely a lot," Tela replied.

"The _Odyssey_-Class can carry 3000 people as standard, and she's a lot bigger than the _Sovereign_." Corpsa replied as she led the Asari to her new quarters. "Your guest quarters. You have unlimited access to the computer. Don't abuse it."

Tela nodded. "Thank you," she said.

Corpsa smiled in a similar manner to Rutia before walking away. "Oh goddess, not another one." She entered the room, noticing it was plainly decorated. A desk was the thing that caught her eye, as well as a terminal. She sat down, and pressed the large activation button.

"_Welcome to the _Ra-Cailum _computer database. Please state your request._"

Tela decided to start by going for the technical specifications of the ship - that information was apparently extremely lucrative to the Shadow Broker.

"_Access restricted: Class-6 clearance only._"

"Well, what the hell is MY clearance?"

"_Class 0.5._"

The Asari was speechless. For a moment at least. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" She calmed down and began to try and hack in. BIG mistake.

"_Uh uh uh. Uh uh uh. You forgot to say the magic word._"

Tela blinked before she felt… lighter. She looked down and noticed that her armor was gone. "THE HELL?! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!"

She tried to find either what had happened to her armor, or some other clothes she could wear, not knowing that this was positively _**tame**_ compared to what was in store for her in the coming months…

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- bridge**_

* * *

"Sonja, you are the master of fucking with people," Ron informed.

"Well, it's what I do," she replied.

"Well, I think Takeshi has the idea of what the hell's going to happen," Ron remarked. "We'll explore the galaxy, looking for a way to get back while he helps Shepard."

"Well, we might find something interesting," Sonja mused. "Maybe someone that can actually pose a threat."

"Doubt it. Riza, punch it!"

* * *

_**Batarian space**_

* * *

Meanwhile, a pair of Batarian ships were on patrol near their border, when they discovered something… unusual.

It was a sort of… hole in space. They had no idea what was causing it, but it was enough to cause problems for the Hegemony. The leaders wanted to know what it was, and if they could use it. "Sir, something is happening," the ship's Sensor Operator reported. "I'm… detecting a ship of some kind coming through!"

The ship that came through was massive, like the hexagonal equivalent of a cylinder, with large spokes jutting out of each facet around the midline of the ship. It was slightly rounded on each end, with what looked like an aperture on the front end, and likely mirrored on the back.

"What… is that thing?" the captain of the lead ship asked.

"Unknown," the Sensor Operator reported. "No kinetic barriers detected." A metallic groan was heard as the ship righted itself. "It's sending a signal: it's overwhelming the computers!"

A screech signalled their doom.

"_We are the Borg. Existence as you know it is over. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is and always has been… Futile._"

"The Batarian Hegemony will never fall!" the Captain yelled. "Especially not to a single ship!"

How little they knew. The unimatrix command ship fired two balls of green plasma at both ships. They didn't know those would be their doom as they made contact with the hull.

As soon as the plasma impacted, it started converting both ships into energy. The crews could do little but scream as they were converted to energy, then completely vanished as that energy was converted to data.

Two more ships, tactical cubes, appeared from the rift. '_Planetary body detected. Prepare for assimilation of solar system._' The Borg, the Federation's most lethal enemy, had arrived, and this time they had no one that could stop them.

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**_**, escorting SSV **_**Normandy** _**to Artemis Tau Cluster**_

* * *

The first clue they had in hunting down Saren and the Reapers was to track down Benezia's daughter, Liara T'Soni. She was an archaeologist specializing in the Protheans, so their search for her took them to the Artemis Tau Cluster.

"Sir, I'm getting a LOT of crazy chatter out of the Kite's Nest cluster," Rina informed

"The Kite's Nest?" Takeshi asked

"It's ruled by the Batarian Hegemony: generally unfriendly," Rina replied, having read up on the local races using the database they'd been provided. "The calls all say they're under attack by an 'unknown enemy'. Not much besides the general 'we're getting raped, help us' transmissions."

"Huh," Takeshi replied. "That sounds pretty ominous, but we have to stick to our mission. Forward it to Ron - he can check it out."

"Aye sir," Rina replied.

"Are you sure we should let him handle it?" Kim asked. "He's not exactly subtle."

"True," Takeshi replied. "Then again, there's a chance that the 'unknowns' might be from our universe - possibly even Borg or Undine that got sent over with us, much as I don't want to think about that possibility. Ron's ship is better equipped to analyze that situation and determine how to deal with it."

The two ships made their way toward the planet, one under thermal stealth, the other using a cloaking device salvaged from a derelict _Qin_-Class Raptor during Starfleet's recent war with the Klingon Empire.

"I'm not detecting anything in orbit, but that could change," Kim reported.

"The _Normandy_ team is getting ready for drop, and they're requesting that we send a ground team," Kim informed.

"Understood," Takeshi replied. "Linda, you're in charge of the ground team - in case we run into something up here, it'd be better if I stayed here at the Helm."

"Right," Linda replied, standing up from the backup tactical seat, walking over to Takeshi, and kissing him on the cheek. "See you later."

"Good luck down there," Takeshi said.

"Thanks," Linda replied, before going to assemble her team.

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**\- cargo bay**_

* * *

"Alright, people, this is going to be a rather rough drop!" Shepard informed. "Therum's a VERY volcanic planet, so don't leave the Mako!"

"Think we didn't know that already, Shepard?"

The N7 chuckled at the comment from the newest member of the team: Urdnot Wrex, a Krogan merc who had… lent them his services. "No, Wrex, I just thought I'd remind everyone that if you go out there, you're going to get burned. Hang on!"

The Mako shot out of the _Normandy_'s open cargo bay, soon coming to a rest on the surface of Therum. Soon after they landed, the _Raging Tempest_ hovered overhead long enough to beam down five figures in Starfleet EVA Suits, before it returned to orbit.

"Need a lift, Commander?" Shepard asked.

"If you've got room in the APC," Linda replied.

"Get in: we're moving out." The Starfleeters climbed into the Mako, whose speakers starting playing a… tune of some kind.

"What the hell is that music?!"

Shepard laughed before gunning the Mako to top speed.

Hitomi, in the front passenger's seat next to her, was laughing as they drove across the landscape, barely stopping for turns, and running over any Geth that got in their way, blasting the ones too big to run over. The rest of the group, though…

"YOU NEED DRIVING LESSONS!" Kaidan yelled.

"No, I don't!"

"YES, YOU DO!"

This lasted for most of the trip, watched over by the eye in the sky known as the _Raging Tempest_.

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

Speaking of eyes, the Tempest was having a slight issue with her sensors. They were picking something up that seemed familiar, but highly foreign at the same time.

"The unknowns are coming into visual range now, Captain," Kim reported.

"On screen," Takeshi ordered, getting a look at what the local database would identify as a Batarian Cruiser, but… altered.

"What in Heaven's name?" a random crewman asked.

"Reading multiple changes to the hull structure," Kim reported. "Armor plating, what look to be mid-power range disruptors, subspace communications nodes and a hundred other things I can't identify."

"Those mods look somewhat familiar…" Takeshi remarked, trying to remember just where he'd seen modifications like that before.

Suddenly, though, everyone's eyes widened as the lead ship let loose a hail they all recognized. "_We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is Futile._"

"Oh, Frak," Takeshi muttered.

The _Normandy_ attempted an attack run on the assimilated warship, only to discover that their weapons were useless, as the Borg did what they always did: improve and adapt. The Batarian ship caught the Alliance frigate in a tractor beam, then fired off a kinetic cutting beam, hacking into the hull. "What the hell?! How the fuck did those things get on boar - AH!"

"Dammit!" Takeshi swore. He oriented on the Borg ship and let loose with the Pulse Cannons, tearing through its shields before a Photon Torpedo finished it off. "Brok'tan, the ship is yours! I'm heading over to the _Normandy_!"

"Aye aye, Captain," Brok'tan replied as Takeshi leapt out of his chair, running for the armory adjacent to the Transporter Room.

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy**

* * *

Adams had no clue what to expect. He'd seen the Tempest and Ra-Cailum, but he never guessed that anyone from their universe could simply transport from one ship to another! And these… things had just stuck two of his people with some tubules of some kind, before they convulsed and… turned. '_It's like they're space vampires or something!_' They pushed anyone they ran into aside or did what they did to the others before injecting those tubules into the machinery.

A group of blue sparkling columns of light heralded Takeshi's arrival into the fray with another security team, his new sword currently sheathed in favor of a MACO Pulsewave Rifle with built-in Automatic Frequency Remodulator and Grenade Launcher, which he unloaded into a group of Drones. "You alright?" he asked Adams.

"Barely: those things are taking over the engine room and doing something to my people! We need to get them away from the consoles, or they'll take over all the ship's functions!"

Takeshi nodded. "Right," he said. "Your weapons should be good against them - they can't adapt to projectiles on a small scale like this! Once we get them down, the engineer I brought with me should be able to undo what they did to your systems."

"Do you SEE any of us carrying weapons down here?! We shoot anything-" The lights went off for a moment before they returned… only with a green tint. "I don't think this is a good thing."

"Definitely not," Takeshi replied. "We need to stop them, now."

"_Hey, Adams, I'm getting some freaky shit up here!_" Joker said over the comms. "_All the holographics are showing some kinda green stuff: I can't fly the ship!_" That left them with one option: a Starfleet engineering crew had to board the ship and get it back online.

Takeshi sighed. "Well, I guess we'll need to evacuate to the _Raging Tempest_ until we get this fixed," he said. "Once we deal with the Drones, we can get everyone out of here so Matt and his crew can get to work."

The _Normandy_ was dead in the water, but she wasn't going to die so easily.

* * *

_**Therum - Prothean ruins**_

* * *

After dealing with the Geth on the surface, the team had arrived in the ruins, and it was clear that anything stupid, like using their phasers to create a tunnel, would cause the ruins to collapse and cause a volcanic reaction. They were going to have to be smart about this.

However, when they found Liara located behind a Prothean Force Field, and completely trapped, the Engineer that had come with Linda had the solution. He took out his Phaser Rifle, set to Heavy Stun, and configured the beam for continuous fire as long as it had power. Then, he took out some external power cables, and linked the rifle to what looked like an outlet port near the field generator. That done, he took aim at a nearby wall, and just held down the trigger. The beam was too weak at its current setting to punch through the wall, but it was steadily drawing power from whatever had been powering the Force Field.

"What-what's going on? I-" the sound of a body hitting the ground was heard on the other side of the field, followed by the field deactivating.

"Guess we turned off the force field," Shepard remarked.

"Sometimes finesse works better than brute force," Linda remarked, patting the engineer's shoulder as Hitomi got Liara out from where the force field had been.

"Raging Tempest _to ground team,_" Takeshi's voice said over the comms. "_The _Normandy'_s been disabled. We're pulling you all out now. We're entering the atmosphere to beam you out._"

"Understood, Takeshi," Linda reported. "We'll wait for transport."

The ground shook slightly. Therum's seismic instability was kicking in. "Any time would be nice, _Tempest_!" Shepard yelled before the team, including a very surprised Asari, were transported to the _Sao Paulo_-class ship.

"Welcome aboard," the Transporter Chief informed. "Captain Yamato's still on the bridge, but he said to tell you to head up there for debriefing."

"Debriefing's going to have to wait, seeing as the doctor here is probably wondering what the hell's going on."

"You would most certainly be-" Liara was interrupted as the _Tempest_ shook from weapons fire, and it was PLENTY significant.

"Who the hell?!"

"_Ground Team, get your butts up here now!_" Takeshi ordered over the comms. "_Everyone else, grab onto something and hang on!_"

The _Raging Tempest_ avoided fire as much as possible while towing the Normandy at full impulse. Of course, that meant two things. One, that made them a better target. Two, they had to tow the _Normandy_, which weighed them down. Linda and Shepard arrived at the bridge, seeing that Takeshi was having problems. "Shields are down to 50%! We can't keep them extended around the Normandy, or we'll BOTH get destroyed!"

"Captain, we've got an incoming Warp Signature!" Kim reported from Sensors.

"Who is it? Ron?" Takeshi asked.

"No, he's nowhere near our position. It's… it's Undine! _Nicor_-Class bioship!"

"Maybe we can use that to our advantage," Takeshi remarked. "They hate the Borg more than they hate us."

"Undine?" Shepard asked.

"We'll explain later," Linda replied.

The Starfleet ship used the highly advanced _Normandy_ as bait, drawing the cube toward the Undine ship. "21 kilometers and closing, Captain," Kim reported. "The cube is still following us."

"And the Undine ship is turning toward the cube," Takeshi replied. "Looks like they still hate the Borg more than us."

As the cube drew into range, the Undine bioship opened fire at it.

The battle was short, as the Starfleet ship jumped to warp, barely making Warp 3 while dragging the _Normandy_ along. "We're being hailed," Rina reported. "It's the _Ra-Cailum_."

"On screen," Takeshi replied as Ron's image appeared on the screen. "Hey there, Ron. We've… got a bit of a problem."

"_We know: we've detected the beginnings of a Borg unimatrix in an inhabited system inside Batarian space. Our problem is bigger than you think._"

Takeshi's eyes widened. "Oh, jeez," he said. "About the only potential silver lining we have is that the Undine are here, too, and still hate the Borg more than us."

"_We're detected only two more Undine ships: _Nicor_-Class. And we both know that the Undine only come from one place. The Borg, on the other hand…_" Takeshi got the point. The Borg were only going to get stronger here. The Undine, who were a formidable force back home, only had three ships. and Starfleet had them. "_Rendezvous at these coordinates. It's time we swapped a few notes. _Ra-Cailum _out._"

Takeshi nodded, before steering the ship to the coordinates Ron had designated, bringing the _Normandy_ along.

"Perhaps someone could explain what exactly is going on? And who these people are?"

"Doctor T'soni, I think that can wait until we reach the _Ra-Cailum_."

* * *

_**Back in the home universe**_

* * *

"The ships have reported in, Admiral," Van'Zyl reported. "No sign of the _Ra-Cailum_ or the _Raging Tempest_. but we do have an idea of what happened."

"Very well," Tuvok replied. "What have you found?"

"The two ships appear to have entered an alternate timeline: we have picked up several signatures from debris not native to ours."

"Is it from the so-called Mirror Universe?" Tuvok asked.

"No, sir. but I think I have a way to get to them. I just need to confirm it with the Science Council."

"Very well," Tuvok replied. "Do what you need to."

Van'zyl nodded. "I'll send it back through Dyson Joint Command. But they may need help, sir: the Ra-Cailum and Raging Tempest have been here for months, and have barely seen a moment of maintenance since day one."

"Put out a call for volunteers, Commander," Tuvok ordered. "We will likely be needing a number of ships to deal with whatever is… on the other side."

"Understood," Van'Zyl replied, before she headed off.

She had quite a few calls to make.

* * *

_**Starfleet Command Headquarters, Earth**_

* * *

"Admiral, while I know you have nothing but contempt for Captain Pinkerton, you have to admit that he DOES get the job done."

Edward Jelico snorted. "'Contempt' is an understatement. I tried denying him his commission when he was rescued, and I tried pulling him out of the service after the war ended! But NO, because he has the ability to get things done no matter the cost, Admiral Quinn decides to keep him in service!"

Admiral Gil Graham sighed. "We don't have the luxury to dismiss or promote officers by personal preference any more," he said. "Even with the war over, we need every skilled officer we can get in a command position - officers like Captain Pinkerton."

"He's the worst officer to ever come out of the Academy!"

"He follows regulations to the letter until they become counterintuitive to the mission, and even then, even as he supplies a justified reason for doing so, he hands himself over for a court martal. Which we have to rescue him from every time because you seem hellbent on seeing him out of the service."

The other officer in the Room, a recently-minted Full Admiral, human female with dark brown hair and blue eyes, and a slender figure, nodded. "Fleet Admiral Graham has a point there, Admiral Jellico," she said. "It's almost like you have a personal grudge against him."

"That son of a bitch tore me apart for my actions during that incident with the Cardassians in 2368! I have every RIGHT to have a grudge!"

"I call bullshit on that," the female Admiral remarked. "You're just angry that made the President pass you over for Fleet Admiral."

Jellico's eye twitching was a sign the girl was right. "Regardless, if Pinkerton's gone, that means he's taken his crew of misfits with him. Starfleet is better off without them."

"Same could be said of you. Regardless, Captain Pinkerton and Captain Yamato have been classified as VHVTs."

"V-what?"

"Very High Value Targets."

"Fleet Admiral Graham is right," the female Admiral informed. "Their respective skills are essential in our efforts in the Delta Quadrant, and our defense as a whole, so we need to do everything in our power to get them back. If you don't like it, Jellico, you can always hand in your resignation."

The Admiral threw up his hands. "Gah! What the hell makes them so damn important?"

"Pinkerton's insights thanks to his experiences with the Borg," Graham explained. "He can do just about anything, due to his Academy training and his time as a processing drone. Captain Yamato is slightly important for two reasons. One is political: his sister's on the council."

"And the other?"

"His ability to command on the fly," Graham informed. "Remember, in the first battle of the last war he started as a simple helmsman, but ably took command when everyone above him was killed. His talents make him indispensable."

Jellico snorted in contempt before walking out of the room. "I'll see to it that the former loses his commission after this. We don't need an ex-drone with a chip on his shoulder with a crew of misfits!"

"Misfits that could've served on the _Enterprise_," the female Admiral informed.

"GAH!" Jellico yelled.

The door shut just after he left. "What about Allster?" Graham asked. "We had a full team assigned to the Ra-Cailum."

The woman smiled. "Don't worry, Uncle," she said. "Miss Flay is one of our best. It's more than likely she's making preparations for when we come to their aid even as we speak - not to mention possibly even finding a way to get the locals on our side, whoever they are."

"I hope so," Graham replied. "We could use all the help we can get."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"GODDESS, NOT AGAIN!"

The bridge crew enjoyed the screaming of their resident Spectre filtering in through the speakers.

"And the humiliation continues. How long until she gets fed up and decides to jump ship?"

"I'm betting three more days."

"I'll put bets on another week."

At that point, the _Raging Tempest_ dropped out of warp, towing the _Normandy_ behind it.

"Corpsa, tell them to dock on both sides. Might as well brief the new people on what the fuck we're dealing with." "Aye, sir."

* * *

_**Portside airlock - SSV **_**Normandy**

* * *

As the door opened and allowed them access, Joker hobbled into the ship on a pair of crutches, followed by the rest of the team.

"The Ra-Cailum's engineering crews better clean that shit up, because there's no way we can do it." The pilot was not happy. The Borg fucked up his ride.

He was still bitching about it when a young woman approached them, wearing an ochre version of the Ra-Cailum uniform.

"Ladies, gentlemen, please follow me," she said. "The Captain's waiting for you in the conference room, deck 4. Just don't pull what the Spectre pulled."

"What did they do?" Ashley asked.

"Not much. Just got bounced a lot in a turbolift. Just use voice commands."

"Gotcha," Kaidan replied.

A door opened and spat out an Asari, who impacted the wall a second or so later. "Still trying to master the manual controls?" the woman asked.

"Fuck. You," the Asari replied.

"Sorry, but you're not my type," the woman informed. "Can you drag her with you? I'm getting tired of having to escort her places."

"Gotcha," Kaidan replied as he reached down and helped the Asari to her feet.

"I hate this ship."

* * *

After about five minutes (and a trip to sickbay) they arrived in the conference room, where Ron and the senior staff were sitting at the table, all doing something involving a PADD or a book. "Captain Yamato. Please take a seat: we're about to begin."

Takeshi nodded, as he took his seat.

"As you probably figured out, the Borg have entered this universe," Ron began. He glanced at Takeshi for a moment before regarding the natives. "While Captain Yamato will regard the Iconians and the Undine as worse threats, the Borg are and always will be our most lethal enemy. Captain, please report on what happened at Therum."

Takeshi explained the entirety of the Therum mission from beginning to end, with Shepard and Linda adding their own reports on the ground part of the mission.

"So, the Borg decided to try and take the good doctor from you. Well, the news gets worse." Ron pressed a button on the table, showing a station in orbit of a now-Borgified planet, with an unwelcome ship in the middle of it all.

"That's one of their Unimatrix-type Command Ships," Takeshi said in recognition.

"The same fucking command ship WE fought back in our universe. Which brings up the problem." The image faded as he spun to face them. "We can take a few of those torpedoes, but not one of the ships on this side can take one. That makes their job of assimilating everything easier."

"A question, Captain."

Ron glanced at the clearly younger asari. "Yes?"

"What are the Borg?"

"Glad you asked," Ron said. "Computer, bring up the Borg file."

This time the entire ground team got to see the same tutorial Ashley had on her first day on the _Ra-Cailum_.

The doctor, Liara T'Soni, had only one way to respond. By running out. "And three, two, one-"

The sound of vomiting reached their ears.

"OH, GOD, NOT AGAIN! WE BARELY GOT THE SMELL OUT FROM THE LAST TIME!"

"Welcome to the _Ra-Cailum_, your one-way trip to insanity."

Takeshi then looked among the rest of the locals, gauging their reactions.

Ashley seemed to be taking it the best, then again she'd seen it before. Though it looked like she'd edged a bit closer to Kaidan during the video. Interesting.

"Well, regardless of the vomiting issue-"

Another retch was heard from outside.

"DAMN IT, STOP DOING THAT! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD THESE CARPETS ARE TO CLEAN?!" Misfits, indeed.

"The only ones who can take on the Borg on even ground are the Undine," Ron continued. "And even then, they've kinda lost that edge over the past 30 years. Miss Vasir, I would recommend you bring this up with the Council. They now have a shark in the minnow pond. And it's hungry."

Vasir nodded. "I'll let them know as quickly as possible," she said. In the confines of her mind, she also thought, '_And I'll need to get this info to the Shadow Broker, as well - have his forces remain on the lookout._'

* * *

_**Meanwhile…**_

* * *

Overlooking a star in its' decline was a man. He sat at his desk, smoking a cigarette, reading intelligence reports. One cropped up on two ships that had appeared at the Citadel. He was interested, surely, but he wasn't going balls-to-the-wall insane in an attempt to get them.

"Sir?" said a woman who approached him.

"Yes, Miranda?"

"Takeo's made her move. She's stolen several ships from their berths, and made attempts to delete the specifications to the rest."

"Too bad for her..." He put out the smoke and lit up another. "That her abilities in computer hacking are levels below yours. Are the schematics intact?"

"Yes, sir. And safe."

"Good," the man replied.

"Are you sure we should just let her go?"

"Sutura Takeo is no threat to Cerberus. How many ships did she… 'liberate'?"

"Five."

"Not enough to be a threat. What do we know about our new friends?"

Miranda looked at the two images of the ships in question. "Only their names: _Ra-Cailum_ and _Raging Tempest._"

The man hmmed for a moment. "They would be rather useful to us."

"Capturing one of those ships could be difficult."

"We have the people. We can take them."

"Sir, if the _Destiny Ascension_'s main gun can't penetrate the _Ra-Cailum_'s barriers, how can one of our ships do it?" The man, known as Jack Harper, or the Illusive Man, simply chuckled.

"Humans always find a way, Miranda. Those ships are as good as ours."

"Very well, sir," Miranda replied, as she turned to leave. However, her mind was somewhere else entirely.

She had originally joined Cerberus to ensure the safety of her sister, who she'd taken from their father who wanted a 'perfect' heir. She'd so far been able to keep her sister safe, but she'd been hearing rumors that the Illusive Man was trying to secure her father's financial support. And that put her sister at risk.

However, if she could somehow get her sister someplace where even her father wouldn't be able to reach… like the newcomer ships…

She'd have to think about it - she couldn't risk her sister's safety on a spur-of-the-moment decision.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- bridge**_

* * *

"Ok, kids, the drill continues," Ron said. "Takeshi, you continue to support Shepard: you've got the ship that actually has a cloaking device. We'll keep scouting for any way to get our asses where we belong. You come across that command ship, I have a single piece of advice."

"_Run?_" Takeshi asked, guessing what the advice was.

"No. run, do not walk, to the nearest exit. Now, fly, my little starlings. Fly, fly fly." The channel closed.

"Silence of the Lambs? Really?"

"It's my favorite book. Set our course for the Hawking Eta cluster. Might as well see what there is to be seen."

"Setting course now," Riza said as the _Sovereign_-Class ship turned to the mass relay, making contact and getting sent on her way.

* * *

_**Meanwhile - Hawking Eta Cluster**_

* * *

In a rather large flash of light, five vessels appeared in deep space around the Hawking Eta Cluster. Each vessel was over a Kilometer long, one of the vessels being nearly two kilometers long. Each one possessed the white and gold coloring of Cerberus, only with the addition of some black and red trimming along their hulls.

"Jump complete," a voice said on the largest ship, "We've arrived at the Hawking Eta system."

"Good, but prepare for another Jump, just in case we were followed." A voice came from a woman who looked to be in her forties, with long shoulder length red hair and dark green eyes, wearing what looked like a Cerberus officer uniform, however it was much more black than the standard uniforms used by Cerberus. "I'm not taking any chances here - did all the ships make it?"

"Yes ma'am, all five ships we hijacked are reporting in." Another operator on the bridge of the ship. "We've getting confirmation from the _Hercules, Tarawa, Missouri, _and _Kyoto._"

"Commander, I got word back from the worm I put in the systems." A young woman said, who looked like a much younger version of the woman in the command chair. "I wasn't able to delete most of the specs, but I was able to take out their Mk-II Mech designs."

"Good work Amy," Sutura said, nodding. "It's not much, but it should slow them down at least..." he then typed a few commands in her chair's console. "Jaden, how's it going on the _Hercules_?"

"_We took a few hits, but damage is minor._" A voice replied, appearing on a small terminal screen next to the chair was a young man in his twenties with short spiked black hair and red eyes, wearing a similar uniform. "_The hull of these ships are way better than Titanium, or anything the Council uses. Though I'd rather of had them upgraded to the same minerals we're using for the main gun's ammo..._"

"Cerberus didn't have enough of it to be used like that." The woman said, shaking her head. "Either way, prepare for our next-"

"Slipstream rupture detected!" one of the operators shouted, as alarms went off. "We've got three ships coming in! One _Shinano-_class and two _Exeter-_class… oh son of a bitch, its the _Kerberos!_"

Sutura Takeo's eyes narrowed. "General Petrovsky… of course he'd come," she growled. "Red Alert! Get ready for another brawl everyone! Amy, try and send out a distress signal, if there are any Alliance ships in the area, they might be able to help out!"

"Yes Ma'am!"

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- bridge**_

* * *

"Captain, we're picking up a distress call."

Ron looked back at Corpsa. "What's it say?"

"The usual: 'we're under attack, please help us'."

Ron let out a breath. "Regs are regs. Set our course, Warp 9.8."

The _Ra-Cailum_ dropped out of warp, then reentered FTL.

"Well? What are we looking at?"

"Eight ships, some with similar configurations. Not sure, but I think I'm seeing duranium in their hull construction."

"About fucking time we find someone that uses something better than titanium. Riza, floor it."

"With pleasure. Maximum warp, aye."

* * *

_**Meanwhile - with the Takeo's**_

* * *

"Fire all broadsides! And get me a targeting solution with the Ship Buster!" Jaden Takeo shouted, as the _Hercules_ battled it out with a vessel of the same class, engaging in a one-on-one broadside battle as energy and kinetic weapons were launched between the two, some shots being absorbed by shields, other impacting against the hull. "Get us some distance from that bastard so I can rip their ship in half!"

"Shields are holding at 85%!" One of the Operators shouted out. "But we can't keep this up forever sir!"

"I _knew _we should've waited until we upgraded our ship's shields before we left!" Jaden muttered. "Damnit, TIM you bastard…"

The ship shook from a massive round slamming into the ship, the kinetic barriers and prototype shields barely holding up against the strain. "Sir, there's a ship incoming! It's… this is impossible. There's no way a ship could be that fast without using our new FTL drive! It's dropping out of FTL, in visual range!"

Jaden looked at the screen, before he blinked as a rather… odd looking, yet VERY large vessel appeared before them. "What… the… FUCK is that?" He muttered.

"It's… not in any known databases sir," the Operator said. "Not Council, Terminus, Alliance… I'm getting blanks here!"

The ship was only a few meters short of 700, and was less massive than the smallest ship in the fleet, but the form of the ship seemed to say one thing: gracefully powerful. "Damn thing looks like a massive yacht," the Operator said. "I'm not seeing any weapons emplacements on it. It's hailing us, all channels."

"Patch it through." Jaden said, nodding at the screen.

A man wearing a black, grey and red uniform, sitting in a chair appeared on the screen. "_This is Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the Federation starship_ Ra-Cailum. _We received your distress call. Wasn't expecting a kind of civil war. Care to explain, mister_…?"

"Federation, wha?" Jaden asked before he shook his head. "Fine, whatever. This is Commander Jaden Takeo, Ex-Cerberus warship _Hercules_ of task force Gamma. We were trying to desert from Cerberus, but these three assholes decided to follow us. Any help would be greatly appreciated here!"

"_Well, it totally depends on the reasons why you decided to desert. See, I have a problem with_-"

The screen flickered for a moment as the ship was fired on by Petrovsky's ship.

"_Captain, that son of a bitch just shot at us! Shields at 96%_!"

An unwelcome voice piped in seconds later. "_This is General Petrovsky of the Cerberus warship _Kerberos_. Captain Pinkerton, you are ordered to stand down and prepare to be boarded_."

The look on Pinkerton's face said it all. "_Commander, your IFF codes, please_."

"Sending now," Jaden said, as their five ship's IFF codes were sent over. "You can see why we left now."

"_Understood. Pinkerton out._" The channel cut out.

"Sir… the _Kerberos_ shot that ship with it's main gun. At FULL POWER. And if that only damaged the shields by four percent…"

"Then whoever these guys are, we best try _not _to piss them off too much." Jaden said, "_Kerberos_ is a _Shinano-_class, not an anti-ship vessel… but if the broadsides can only do 4% of damage... " However, he glanced at the design again. "Run the ship through the scans again… only include the Classified files as well." The Operator did as asked, however he then blinked.

"Uhh… we have one match… ish." he said, "Similar design but… radically different."

"Well, I think we found the owners to that ship we found couple years back…" Jaden said. "Let's hope they don't get pissed at what TIM did to it…"

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"Heavy ship turning main gun on us! Power is peaking!"

"All hands, brace for impact!"

The _Sovereign_-Class ship shook as the main gun of the largest ship fired on them, the large slug impacting the shields.

"Shields down to 91%!"

"Lock phasers and disable their weapons!"

The Starfleet battleship fired her dorsal phasers at the ship in question (IDed as the _Exeter_-Class CSV _Typhon_) and tore through the kinetic barriers, only bluntly stopped by something slightly unexpected.

"Sir, that ship has deflector shields! Really weak deflector shields in comparison, but it was enough to stop the beam for a second!"

"Yet no one else has them. Ok, fuck it. Photon torpedoes. Full spread."

The saucer-mounted launcher spat out six torpedoes, two for the _Typhon_, the rest for the _Kerberos_. The _Exeter_-Class ship was destroyed in seconds, with only a few fragments of duranium hull surviving. The Kerberos was broken into five pieces, and none of them fit with one another.

"Both ships are launching whatever escape pods they have for any survivors, Captain. Orders?"

"Leave them. Let them go. And tell the others that if they try to kill them, they're next."

* * *

**Meanwhile - Onboard the **_**Hercules**_

* * *

"Prepare to receive the pods, best we catch them before they return to Cerberus HQ," Jaden said. "If we're lucky one of them has the General inside."

"We're getting a message from the Federation warship," the Comm Operator said. "They're telling us to not shoot the escape pods, or they will fire."

Jaden sighed. "Tell them we won't, we're simply capturing them," he said. "Send the word to the rest of the fleet as well… and get a shuttle ready. I have a feeling they'll be 'inviting' us onboard soon."

"Aye, sir. And as for the match… it's only in general planform," the Sensors operator said. "There's a lot of differences between the two." The comm beeped. "We're being hailed by the Ra-Cailum. It's Captain Pinkerton."

Jaden sighed. "Called it," he said. "Patch him through."

The captain reappeared on the screen. "_Commander Takeo. how's your ship holding up?_"

"Minor damage, nothing that can't be patched up later," Jaden said. "Same for the rest of our ships. Thank you for your assistance, Captain Pinkerton… though I'd assume you have some questions to ask us, would you like for this to be done in person face-to-face?"

"_That might be best. Riza, take us alongside and dock us. I'll see you soon, Commander. Anyone else I need to speak to?_"

"My superior is aboard the _Midway,_ she will be over here as well after you dock," Jaden said. "She should be able to answer most of your questions. We shall see you soon, Captain."

"_See you in a few minutes. _Ra-Cailum _out._" The channel cut out, returning the view of space.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- bridge**_

* * *

"Sir, would be out of turn to mention that those deflector shields had a Federation signature?"

Ron looked at Corpsa, eyes VERY narrow. "Really?"

"Yes, sir. The database has a near-match to a few ships that went missing years ago, during the 2320s. And their shields are roughly 2290s era in strength."

"Interesting. We'll deal with it later. Riza?"

The helmsman chuckled as the 685-meter-long _Sovereign_-Class starship docked with the bulky kilometer-long purebred warship. "Done. We're connected, and they're maneuvering into position with another ship. Guess we're getting a grand meeting."

Ron stood up, straightening his uniform. "I'll talk with them in the deck one conference room. Send a security detail to escort them to the bridge."

* * *

**Hercules** _**airlock**_

* * *

"Well, it looks like we're about to solve the mystery behind the ship TIM's boys found." Sutura said, looking at the data on her Omni tool as she, Jaden, and Amy stood in the _Hercule's_ airlock, along with four men in black and red versions of Cerberus Assault Armor, though looking slightly slimmer, and their weapons looking a bit compact.

"Looks like it," Jaden said with a sigh. "Let's hope they can be forgiving." The lights turned green, signalling that the way was clear. "Alright, here we go." The doors of the airlock slid open, as the group made their way across the airlock, as they approached the door which would lead them into the _Ra-Cailum._

The hatch opened, revealing a squad of two men and three women, one of the men being human while the other had pointed ears and eyebrows, and one of the women had...blue skin, white hair and... "Are those antennae?" Amy asked.

"Everyone always asks that question. Yes, they are, yes they're real. Welcome to the Ra-Cailum. We're here to escort you to the bridge. Captain Pinkerton's waiting for you. Just follow us."

"Thank you, lead on Miss…?" Sutura asked.

"Lieutenant Tavore Shrass. I'm Alpha Team's commanding officer." She led them to a door reading 'turbolift'. "Never a lift when you need one." The door opened, revealing an Asari on the floor, huddled in the fetal position. "Seriously?"

"This ship. Is cursed." The Asari whimpered out.

Jaden blinked as he almost immediately recognized who she was, Tela Vasir, Asari Spectre. However he also knew that she was a Shadow Broker informant thanks to some of the information Cerberus had on the Spectres. He glanced at his mother and Amy, who both nodded as they decided to remain quiet for now, waiting until they were face to face with the Captain and then let him know as they walked into the turbolift.

"Main bridge." The doors shut and the lift gently started moving.

They barely felt it. "What's with her?" Amy asked.

"She keeps trying to use the manual controls," Tavore said. "Keeps turning off the inertial dampener and gets thrown about for her trouble." The lift stopped a minute or so later, and the doors opened, revealing the Ra-Cailum's bridge. "The conference room is this way."

Sutura nodded as they followed her lead, while Jaden took a good look around the bridge '_Doesn't look like a military ship from the inside..._' he thought to himself, '_The layout almost makes it look civilian... _'

They walked towards the doors, which opened, revealing the open conference room, and a collection of models hanging in a display case. The first three didn't interest them. Model four, on the other hand, got them staring. "Commander Takeo, welcome."

'_They made a golden model of it..._' Jaden thought, '_Oh they're gonna be PISSED..._' Shaking that thought off, Jaden nodded/ "Thank you, Captain," he said. "Nice for us to meet face to face."

"Indeed," Sutura said nodding. "Captain Pinkerton… I am Sutura Takeo, leader of former Cerberus Task Force Gamma. I thank you for the assistance you've provided us… though please excuse me when I ask… just who the hell _are _you people?"

"I am a Starfleet officer, assigned to the United Federation of Planets Starship _Ra-Cailum_ as her commanding officer," Ron said. "Not surprised about the question. We're literally not of your world. We came from an alternate universe only a week or so prior. I have to ask, though, why were you staring at the models?"

Jaden glanced at his mother again, before he sighed. "This… may sound like an odd question, Captain…" he began, "but, uhh… does the name 'NCC-1701-B USS _Enterprise_' mean anything to you?"

"Course it does." Ron said, "The _Enterprise-B_ was the third Federation starship to bear the-wait a fucking minute, how do you know that name and registry? We haven't even opened up our database for you to look at."

Jaden sighed again. "Well… you see… Cerberus - the group we just deserted from - may have… found that ship of yours. It was adrift. It was damaged, a majority of its computers were damaged, and a viral presence onboard resulted in the deaths of the first team to investigate the ship. But afterwards… Cerberus's leader brought the ship back, managed to reverse-engineer most of the tech, and well… once they got everything they needed, the Illusive man had the ship scrapped for parts."

Ron was silent for no less than 15 seconds. His eye began twitching uncontrollably, and generally his form spoke of pure rage, but his voice was eerily calm. "You are telling me...that you stripped and scrapped the _Enterprise_-B? The flagship of the fleet?"

"Uhhh… yeah… TIM didn't see a reason keeping her... " Jaden said, gulping slightly. "Since there was… no way Cerberus could repair her… and, to be honest… no one knew it was from another freaking _universe,_ let alone the _flagship_ to a fleet!"

Ron turned away from them, walking toward a window. Then he drew back his fist and punched it, cracking the glass. "That son of a BITCH is going to PAY!" He roared out, "NO ONE FUCKS WITH STARFLEET! ESPECIALLY AN _ENTERPRISE_!"

"Oh, fuck. Congratulations, you moron! NOW he's pissed!"

"Uh… he just broke the glass."

"That's not glass. that's transparent aluminum!"

"Wha…?" Jaden asked, looking at the transparent aluminum screen. "How the… how strong _is _he?"

"He's an ex-borg drone, so very. It's a good thing the force field's keeping the air in, or all of us would be chewing on vacuum now." Ron faced them again, his right hand bleeding and several fingers broken. He didn't seem to care, however. "Commander, I am going to make you a simple offer."

"If it involves us telling you where to find the Illusive Man, we don't know where he is." Jaden said, "Only his most trusted officers know where his base is… and we certainly were _not _trusted by the bastard."

"Commander, I am going to be frank. The simple fact you are using reverse engineered Starfleet technology, even if it was provided to you by a third party, puts you in VERY deep shit. The offer is this: you help me hunt this motherfucker down, I grant you asylum. That means you will have some right to use it, as if I don't, the assholes at Command will see this as an excuse to strip me of my commission."

"If it helps us bring TIM down, you've got a deal," Sutura said, nodding. "We can send you the coordinates to all of the Cerberus bases that we know of, as well as any of their benefactors we know of. "

"Sonja, Riza! Bridge, NOW! We're going hunting." both women saluted, both terrified of the man's wrath and just as pissed off, before running out. "As anyone on this ship will attest to, we all have the capability to be on the flagship. we all have the skills and the talent. We just don't have the right mindset. As such, we all consider the _Enterpris_e to be our second home." The models on the wall held more then sentimental value, it seemed. "To hear that one of our homes has been stripped to the bone, turned into a test subject and then destroyed? I think you might know how I feel."

"Believe me, we do." Sutura said nodding, as she looked at the models. "But this barely scratches the surface of what Cerberus has done these last few years… there's a reason most of Citadel space considers them Terrorists now days."

Ron looked at his hand, finally noticing the broken fingers. "Huh. Borg technology does have a benefit. Numbs the pain." The man's eyes turned to Sutura. "As a Starfleet officer in time of war, I have the authority to grant field commissions up to the rank below mine. Consider yourselves drafted. Any information you have, I want in my database. Rumors, hearsay, anything that can help me track this fucker and put him in the ground. Starfleet tolerates terrorists as well as anyone does." The rage finally surfaced fully. "We don't."

"Thank you Captain… we shall send over what information we have." Sutura said nodding, "We owe you for helping us defeat Oleg, and I always repay my debts…"

"Speaking of..." Jaden said, "You… _might _want to take care of the Asari among your crew… she's not who you think she is."

"Young man, I already know she's tried to hack into my computers," Ron said. "Believe me when I say she has a higher chance of walking on the surface of a red giant then successfully increasing her access to our computers."

"I'd still be careful - she's not just a Spectre, but Cerberus reports show her as an Informant to the Shadow Broker," Jaden warned. "The bastard's known for being… _persistent,_ when it comes to information he wants."

"He'll need to get his hands on a more powerful computer to hack into ours. And if yours are any indication, you aren't even close to fully cracking duotronics, WITH help from the B. I can take care of her."

* * *

On the bridge, Sonja was busy sifting through some of the data being sent over before she noticed it. Someone was trying to hack into the Ra-Cailum's computers from the Hercules. "How interesting. Futile, but interesting." She brought up a comm window, contacting the hacker. "This is Commander Henderson of the _Ra-Cailum_. I applaud the attempt, but you're not getting in."

"_Awww, come on!_" A female voice said, and Sonja blinked in surprise as appearing on the screen was the image of a woman with small devil-like horns, short wings and a tail, wearing a Kimono dress. "_I got this far at least, that's gotta count for something! Though I gotta say, your computers are way more advanced than I initially speculated… I mean wow, it makes what we've got look ancient... _"

"And… you are…?" Sonja asked, as the woman smiled.

"_Ex-Cerberus AI unit 8240148-2341235, Lucifer._" She said, "_Though Jaden and the others just call me Lucy for short, nice to meet ya!_"

Sonja seemed almost bored. "An AI. Well, that's to be expected." She said, "Of course, you don't have THAT much access." She checked the access Lucy had. And almost winced. "You hacked your way in and got the same access normally given to children. Hell of a lot better then that idiot Spectre, considering your pre-duotronic computers."

"_Hey, if I'm doing better than a highly trained Spectre, that's a plus in my books._" Lucy said with a satisfied smirk, "_I was just looking for your history files, languages… that kind of stuff. I was going to ask… but I just _love _having a challenge every now and then._"

Sonja chuckled. "Well, good thing I caught you when I did." She said. "The Captain has a rather nasty trap for enemy computer networks trying to hack ours." She didn't mention that the file in question destroyed a Federation starship and nearly destroyed another and a Romulan _D'deridex_-Class warbird. It was a good thing they had it isolated, or it would be trying to kill THEM. "I'll grant you access to the historical and linguistics database. Just ask for access next time."

"_Ah, you must've meant that isolated spot? Yeah, I stayed clear of that._" Lucy said, "_Thanks anyways miss. I'll start looking through them, and updating our Omni-tools to translate the languages instantly. Looking forward to talking with ya again!_"

"Considering my CO is on the warpath, I think we'll be talking a LOT." She said, and moments later Ron marched out of the conference room, followed by the Takeos. "Corpsa, shipwide!"

The Andorian pressed a button on her console, sounding off a bosun's whistle. "You're on, sir."

The former drone huffed in a breath. "This is the captain. As of a moment ago, I learned the fate of a loved ship. Our distant cousin, the _Enterprise-B!_ And what do I learn? That she was discovered, stripped of her secrets, gutted and scrapped!" The crew all stopped at this point. "I believe I speak for us all when I say that you do not fuck with Starfleet. You do not make us angry, for once it happens, you awaken a demon you simply CANNOT STOP with a rage BEYOND WORDS! Cerberus has declared war on the Federation by doing this! As such, our mission is simple." The crew hung on his every word. "We. Fucking. Destroy. Them. REMEMBER THE _ENTERPRISE-B_! PINKERTON OUT!" The comm shut down, and everyone had the same expression of barely contained rage.

"_Oh TIM is _SOOOO _fucked..._" Lucy said with a mad giggle. "_You know what they say… Karma's a bitch._"

"And karma decided to unleash hell." Sonja said, "When you give the boss a mission, he completes it. I don't think it's going to end in his death. He will hurt him and go on hurting him. Then he will leave his organization in pieces. Buried alive."

* * *

Somewhere in the galaxy, Jack Harper shuddered. 'It's like someone wants me dead and actually has the capability to find me.'

* * *

**Ron the True Fan: Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to the one thing Starfleet does not tolerate. Having a ship so loved abused and simply torn apart.**

**117Jorn: Shit's about to go down people :D**

**Takeshi Yamato: Yeah, Harper kicked at a rock, but it woke up a sleeping dragon.**

**Ron the True Fan: And now for the last message of the chapter: if you do not like, read something else. That being said...**

**Ja Ne!**


	3. Chapter 2: Games of Thrones

**Ron the True Fan: Do I LOOK like Gene Roddenberry, or that I work for Paramount or CBS?! Tell the bloodsucking lawyers to piss off!**

**Takeshi Yamato: We also don't own Mass Effect, or anything else that might make a cameo in this story… what can I say, I love importing things from other franchises and tweaking them to fit the destination! It still belongs to whomever created it, though.**

**117Jorn: We just own our characters and their shit. HIT IT! :D**

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest** _**\- high above Noveria**_

* * *

The two ships entered orbit, one with the intent to enter the atmosphere, the other not.

After dealing with a few missions for the Alliance and other minor assaults, they'd gotten a lead that Matriarch Benezia was at Noveria taking care of something.

And their day was only going to get worse. "Captain, we're receiving a tight-band transmission from the _Ra-cailum_, labelled... 'answer or there will be hell to pay'," Rina reported.

"That's a new one."

"I think he's pissed off to the point that if we don't answer, he'll do something he's going to regret."

"Right," Takeshi replied. "Put it through."

The face of the _Ra-Cailum_'s captain appeared on the screen. To say he was pissed was an understatement, but the fact he was holding a model of an _Excelsior_-Class ship in his hands was curious, to say the least.

"I take it you discovered something rather bad," Takeshi said, not really knowing how much of an understatement that was.

"_Takeshi, do you know what this is?_" Ron asked. "_The answer is a model of the _Enterprise_-B. Guess what I just found out._"

"The actual _Enterprise_-B somehow made it to this universe?" Takeshi replied.

"_Yes._" Takeshi's technical superior (by virtue of more heavily armed starship) placed the model gingerly on the deck. "_And it was gutted, stripped, reverse engineered and SCRAPPED by a humano-supremacist terrorist group called Cerberus. I assume you know what I'm about to do._"

Takeshi nodded. "I do, and I almost wish I was going with - desecrating an _Enterprise_ is _**SERIOUSLY**_ bad juju."

It was an unspoken rule: don't fuck with a Federation starship; leave it alone for Starfleet. The second part of the rule was more simple: touch a ship named _Enterprise_ and you will WISH for death at the end. And it was more personal for the _Ra-Cailum_'s crew, as they could have served on the Enterprise, had it not been for...their personalities. "I'm going to send the defectors who informed me of this to the Citadel," Ron said. "_Their ships use reverse engineered Federation technology. I'll supply them with an engineering detail to upgrade the ships and bring them up to our spec. After that, they're going to help me find the Illusive Man and PUT HIS ASS IN THE GROUND._"

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied. "We're currently helping Shepard track down Matriarch Benezia on an Ice Ball named Noveria, but we'll head back to the Citadel and meet up as soon as that's done."

"_We'll trade notes later. _Ra-Cailum _out._"

The image of Novaria returned to the screen.

"They took apart the Enterprise-B?" Rina asked. "Do those people have a _**DEATH WISH**_?"

"I'd say more like they had no idea just who owned the ship," Takeshi replied, though he was scowling. "Regardless, they made the worst mistake possible when they did that."

Unknowingly or not, they had just declared war on the Federation. And while they usually sought out peaceful solutions to conflicts, the Federation was NOT a pushover. The Dominion and Klingons knew this first hand. Now Cerberus was about to get the lesson three-hold, because they made a bigger mistake: they made it personal.

* * *

_**Former Cerberus warship **_**Hercules**

* * *

To say Lucy had discovered a gold mine of information was a massive understatement. She was reading up on everything at once, including something on a race called the Borg. Sounded mildly Swedish, but that was irrelevant. The crew was going to have to know. She had already sent the data to Jaden, who was the first to read through its contents.

"These Borg… things, look to be the biggest threat we'll need to deal with," he said, his eyes narrowed as he read up on them. "Assimilating entire races… who would design something as insane as this? Granted, their technology could be beneficial… but at such costs…"

"_So far, all attempts to really reverse-engineer Borg tech haven't gone well for the Federation, according to these files._" Lucy said, her holographic form floating over the holotank. "_It seems the Romulans have had some success with their ships though, but only limited success._"

"If we ever meet these Romulans, we should be careful," Jaden said. "I won't risk the lives of our crews just to get a few samples of Borg tech, not until we find a way to truly counter their assimilating effects, which probably won't be for a _loooong_ time." He looked through another file, this one focusing more on Starfleet. "Their ships appear to be fairly powerful… but it seems they are lacking when it comes to ground forces. Their Starfleet security forces are very good fighters if their actions during the Dominion War means anything… but they aren't fully dedicated soldiers like N7 Marines are."

"_According to the files, they used to have a military, the Military Assault Command Operations, or MACO._" Lucy said, "_But around the 23rd Century after the Xindi War, the Federation phased MACO out of primary starship service as they set their sights on peaceful exploration, leaving protection of their ships to Starfleet Security while MACO became more of a Special Forces group than anything. MACO returned to service during the Earth-Romulan War in 2154-2161, and during the beginning of the Klingon Cold War in the 2240's_ _but they'd always would be pushed to lower services once the conflicts were resolved. That being said, these guys are about as military as the old US Coast Guard._"

"The US Coast Guard had ships with .50 caliber machine guns and a 25mm cannon, and all of their personnel were trained in using weapons of all kinds." Jaden said, "However, the Coast Guard was for Maritime law enforcement, not full-fledged Offensive and Defensive military operations. They were like the Naval SWAT teams."

"_Starfleet, meanwhile, is everything at once: police force, exploration service, full-on military force if pushed too far._" Lucy said. "_Cerberus made a BIG fucking mistake in pissing that guy off, because even if this guy isn't a real 'hard-core' military guy, he's got the right ship for the job._"

"Right ship, yes. But they seem to neglect their ground forces a bit," Jaden said, "They're expected to go against enemy positions, usually wearing nothing more than simple bright red uniforms which shout out 'shoot me!' would it kill them to have more Camo-based uniforms at least? The closest they ever came was those black 2373-era uniforms."

"_Maybe they have something we just haven't seen yet,_" she said. "_Speaking of which, something you might want to see._" An image appeared on the screen of a smaller ship, more compact than the _Ra-Cailum_, and barely a quarter the size. "_That's the ship he contacted a while back: the_ Raging Tempest. _She's at Noveria at the moment._" A tone interrupted her train of thought. "_Looks like we're getting a call from the man himself._"

"Patch him through," Jaden said as he sat up.

Ron's image appeared on the screen. "Commander, I'm going to need your services in our first operation. We're going to engage a Cerberus base, and I need someone who knows what's down there. I have faith in my people's capabilities, but the condom rule applies."

"Well, it's a way to see what your people can do off your fancy ship," Jaden said as he stood up. "I'll be there."

"_I'll see you in four hours. _Ra-Cailum _out._"

The screen went blank and Jaden turned to face Lucy. "Get the _Tarawa _ready to head out with us, Lucy," he said with a small smirk. "Time for Shock and Awe."

* * *

_**Noveria**_

* * *

Linda and a small team from the _Raging Tempest_ had beamed over to the _Normandy_ before it landed on Noveria. They'd had to deal with a few issues upon landing, but they'd been smoothed out easily enough.

That being said, they were having problems getting to the Peak 15 labs, which were run by ExoGeni, a corporation partly funded by Saren. Bureaucratic bullshit, as Ron would put it. So, to keep up appearances, Linda and her party were heading back up to the _Tempest_, at which point they would beam into the lab complex. After all, they still didn't have any idea they had transporter technology.

Meanwhile, Shepard and her team found another lead - someone was needing data in some sealed offices in the main complex, and was willing to trade a pass to the facility garage for it.

"_Starting to wish we had the _Ra-Cailum's _sensor array,_" Kim reported.

"Problems?" Linda asked.

"_A shitton of bioelectric interference,_" Kim replied. "_Something's down there and it's screwing with the sensors. I can make you a general map of the place, but as for what's down there, we're blind as a Tiberian bat._"

"_Not much we can do about that,_" Takeshi said. "_Can you at least get a coordinate fix to beam Linda's team to, or are they going to need to take the Cyclone down?_"

"It's going to have to be the former, Captain," Shepard replied from nearby. "The Noveria authorities are monitoring us like a Volus watches his credit account. You launch a shuttle, it's going to raise ten kinds of hell, and unfortunately, you're not the one who has to deal with it."

"_Gotcha,_" Takeshi replied. "_Kim, do what you can to beam them to the proper point, even with the interference in the way. Good luck, Linda._"

"_Said that I don't know what's in there, not that I can't beam them in, sir,_" Kim reported. "_Get out of sight and stand by._"

"You heard the lady," Linda told her team. "The less we show off, the better." They made their way back to the _Normandy_, and as soon as the airlock doors were shut, the team was beamed out.

* * *

_**Peak 15**_

* * *

Linda and her team beamed down… into a cluster of Geth platforms.

"Oh, Frak!" Linda yelled as they took to cover, the Geth opening fire on them.

The mass effect weapons barely caused damage to their shields, but it was incentive enough to take cover. "Takeshi, we have Geth down here!" Linda yelled. "Tell Shepard to HURRY HER ASS UP!" The team could handle the Geth, but as a German tanker once said, a Tiger is worth 10 Shermans, but they always had eleven.

"_On it!_" Takeshi replied. "_Do what you can in the meantime!_"

"Understood!" The Geth began to swarm them, but switching from one firing mode to the next kept the synthetics at bay. "Fall back! We're in open ground: force them to a bottleneck!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" the other team members nodded as they began falling back.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- near Binthu**_

* * *

Jaden's shuttle headed directly for the _Ra-Cailum's_ main shuttlebay, located behind the main bridge and four decks down. Inside the bay, as Jaden began to note, were small craft of all kinds, and what appeared to be fighters. Hard to mistake a sort of aggressive planform a like that with anything else.

The second the shuttle landed and the hatch opened, two security officers, only armed with what appeared to be smaller versions of the phaser rifles, were waiting for him. "Commander, the Captain's waiting for you on the bridge," they said.

Jaden allowed the two men to escort him to the turbolift, and they arrived at the bridge only a moment later.

Upon stepping out, the lights and controls started flickering. "What the hell?"

"That's only been happening for roughly half an hour. Sonja!"

"It's a problem in the computer core. Which is impossible, because…"

"Oh, don't tell me," someone else remarked. "That idiot Vasir's at it again?"

"This time, the bitch dialed it up to eleven: she's in the computer core, and judging by the things going on and offline-" The lights went out. "She's SHOOTING the isolinear control chips!"

"Corpsa, take delta team and deal with her. Sonja, I want a team in the core fixing whatever she's done NOW!"

"Soon as the bitch is in the brig, I'll have the team in there."

* * *

Tela shot out another cluster of isolinear chips. She hoped that if she disabled enough of the control surfaces, she'd be able to access the more secure data.

"Miss Vasir, put the weapon down NOW." The Asari turned to face a squad of fully armored men, all holding type-3 mod 2 phaser rifles, more commonly known as compression rifles."You're outgunned, bitch. Put it down."

Her body glowed blue as she called forth her biotics, and slammed one of the men into the wall.

It didn't end so well as it began, as the rest of the team coordinated their phaser fire to hit the Asari Spectre, sending her to the deck with nay but a whimper. "Get her the fuck out of here," the leader began. "Carmine, are you still alive?"

"I-I'm ok, sir," Carmine replied.

"Fenix to bridge: bitch is secure."

"_Understood,_" Ron replied. "_Sensors, weapons and most of the security systems are down, so get out on patrol._"

"Roger that," Fenix replied as the team headed out.

"Fucking walking duty?"

"Shut up, Baird."

* * *

"How long until the security systems are back online?"

"Hopefully in less than an hour, seeing as this is deep in enemy territory. I-" One of the consoles began beeping out a warning. "Sir, the secondary shuttlebay door is opening."

"Close it."

"I can't: automatic controls are offline, thanks to the bitch."

"Gamma team, suit up and find out what the fuck is going on down there!"

"_Understood, Captain!_" Gamma's leader replied. "_We'll be there shortly!_"

Ron walked toward the engineering console and practically kicked it, and while Sonja was shocked at the action, it worked, as the monitor activated. "Well, that worked. Wait… that thing looks familiar."

"Because we've shot one down before: it's a Geth dropship. Bastards must've been tracking us."

"Great… what next?"

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**secondary shuttlebay**_

* * *

Over 40 Geth troopers exited the craft, led by two primes and a man that was well despised by the crew at this point: Saren Arterius. The _Ra-Cailum_ was a magnificent vessel: able to stand up to Sovereign's main gun, which was the most powerful weapon in the known universe.

Soon after disembarking, he ran into another Starfleet Security team, which began opening fire.

"Kill them quickly: the crew is of no importance!" One of the rocket troopers took aim, but lost its head, quite literally, when a bolt of energy hit it. "You, come with me!" five Geth followed Saren to what looked to be an access tube while the security team was distracted by the rest of the Geth.

* * *

"Sir, I've got limited internal sensors. Saren's with the Geth, and he just entered a Jefferies tube."

Ron glanced at Corpsa. "Where's he heading?" he asked.

"Judging by the route, Deck 20, section 15F."

"He's heading for the secondary armory. Bridge to Gamma Team: deck 20, section 15F!"

"_On it!_"

"Activate emergency force fields: herd them towards this area and prepare to flood the entire area with anestizine gas."

"That won't work on the Geth."

"We're not after the Geth. Remodulate the force fields to a frequency of 26.7 gigahertz."

"Planning on letting the phaser fire get through?"

"No risk to my crew. Do it."

* * *

Saren continued his advance, though he still ended up needing to fight the occasional patrol.

"We just need to get to the bri-" A field of energy erupted in his path, blocking his escape. "Damn it!" Hissing was heard, and Saren was forced to put on a mask to prevent whatever it was from entering his system.

As they tried to make a way out, one of the Geth slammed a fist into and through a nearby control panel.

It didn't end well for the Geth: it was instantly fried, but it interrupted the circuit and took out the force field. "Move!" The Turian began running, trying to find a way off the Ra-Cailum before finding something similar to an escape shuttle hatch. The security team followed the Geth, picking them off one by one until none but Saren was left, who jumped into the open hatch and shut it.

The escape pod shot away from the ship, and another Geth ship quickly went to retrieve it.

* * *

"_Security team to bridge: bastard ejected in an escape pod._"

"Do we have weapons?"

"Targeting sensors are offline, sir. I'm going to have to do it manually." Ron shook his head. "Fire."

As the first shot vaporized the Geth ship heading towards the pod, Saren quickly opened the hatch on the pod again, jumping out just before the Pod was destroyed. At the same time, the cuttlefish ship dropped out of FTL near his location.

On the bridge, Jaden narrowed his eyes. "I know that ship." He said, "Cerberus has files on the idiots who found it, and they gave it a name."

"I'm curious as to what they call it," Ron remarked. The word was ironic.

"Sovereign."

"Oh, that's fucking hilarious." Ron said with a small smirk, "Sovereign, fighting a _Sovereign_! Round two, motherfucker! Battle stations!"

Sovereign quickly retrieved Saren, before turning to face the _Ra-Cailum._

And if the ship could have expressions, they could have sworn that the ship not only remembered them, but it was PISSED. It opened fire on the Starfleet ship, the beam impacting the shields, which were run on a separate computer system. "Fire phasers!" Gone were the misfits and the rejects, and in their place, a crew ready to do their jobs as the Ra-Cailum's phasers fired on the ship, causing more scarring and damaging a tendril by cutting it in half. It fired again, striking the port nacelle, but stopped by the shields. "Shields at 91%! Sir, permission to use photon torpedoes!" "Negative! I want Saren alive!" The dance began as the Ra-Cailum circled Sovereign, and the larger ship attempting to hit the _Sovereign_-Class starship with its' beam weapon. "Sir, we're being hailed." "Put it through."

"_**PITIFUL CREATURES OF BLOOD AND FLESH,**_" came an ominous-sounding voice over the speakers. "_**STRUGGLE ALL YOU LIKE, BUT THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN.**_"

"...You're not Saren," Ron said as his experience with the Borg kicked in. "You're the _**fucking ship**_. You're Sovereign. A goddamn Reaper!"

"_**REAPER?**_" Sovereign asked. "_**A TERM THE PROTHEANS USED TO GIVE VOICE TO THEIR EXTINCTION. WHAT YOU CALL US IS IRRELEVANT. WE SIMPLY ARE.**_"

"What you are, you big motherfucker, is DEAD! Corpsa! KILL HIM!"

"With pleasure," the Andorian said as she pressed several keys, firing the Ra-Cailum's dorsal phasers at the Reaper with a speed unthought of, carving into Sovereign's titanium skin as if a knife through butter.

"_**YOUR ATTEMPTS WILL FAIL. AND I WILL TAKE EVERYTHING FROM YOU. YOUR REBIRTH IS INEVITABLE,**_" the Reaper, Sovereign, said as it spun around and ran as fast as it could from the clearly superior _Sovereign_-Class starship.

"Well, that was interesting," a random crewman remarked.

"Don't just stand there: FOLLOW HIM!" Ron yelled. "Course and speed?!"

"Bearing 258 mark 015: he's heading for the mass relay at warp 6!"

"Overtake him: go to warp 8!" The _Ra-Cailum_ jumped to warp with a flash of Cherenkov radiation.

* * *

_**Inside Sovereign**_

* * *

Saren made his way through the corridors of the Reaper, glad that Sovereign had chosen to come and rescue him.

"_**YOU NEARLY FAILED, SAREN.**_" The voice of the Reaper clearly indicated its' displeasure.

"They were better armed and equipped!" Saren yelled. "Even you had a hard time dealing with that ship!"

"_**THAT IS NO EXCUSE. WE MUST HAVE THAT SHIP.**_" The Reaper rocked as something made contact with the hull.

"What?!"

"_**THE **_**RA-CAILUM**_**IS FIRING AT US WITHIN FTL. AND HITTING.**_" Sovereign's voice showed a fair hint of shock and disbelief. "_**UNEXPECTED.**_"

Sovereign's weapon couldn't shoot back at them. Unless the Reaper did something, they were doomed.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"The data from the _Enterprise-B_ didn't have anything on you guys being able to do THIS." Jaden said.

The targeting sensors were back online, and Corpsa was slowly taking the Reaper out. "It's dropping out of FTL."

"Stay with him!"

Both ships dropped out, with the _Ra-Cailum's_ vengeful phasers hitting the Reaper in the back as they approached the mass relay.

"Captain, the mass relay is building up energy."

"Wait, what?"

Indeed, the glow of the Mass Relay's core was building up, and the speed of the rings was increasing. They had no idea why it was doing this, though.

"Sir, I'm detecting a tight-beam transmission from Sovereign."

"Motherfucker can control the relay," Ron realized. "The Protheans didn't built the damn things: the quantum dating on them is too old. The fucking Reapers built them! DESTROY THAT REAPER!"

The rate of fire increased, as did the damage to Sovereign, but the Reaper made contact with the relay, and was shot off seconds later.

"DAMN IT! Contact the _Raging Tempest_!"

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

Takeshi kept an eye open for any unknowns, even as he got the occasional status update from the ground teams.

Shepard had finally gotten that garage pass, getting access to a Mako which she used to drive her team to Peak 15. They'd rendezvoused with Linda's team, and were now clearing out the Geth within the facility.

"Captain, receiving another hail from the _Ra-Cailum_ on the QEC," Rina reported.

"Put him through," Takeshi replied, before Ron's image appeared. "What revelation do you have for us this time, Ron?"

"_That ship we ran into at Eden Prime, the one that looks like a reaper cuttlefish. Remember it?_"

"Yeah, I remember it," Takeshi replied. "You ran into it again?"

"We did, after Saren tried to board us. It's got a name - you're going to laugh at this - Sovereign. It's a sentient starship: a GODDAMN REAPER."

Takeshi did laugh a bit at the name, before his eyes widened at the last bit. "So the Reapers are more than just machines… they're actual sentient starships," he said.

"_The fucking thing supercharged a relay to escape us. They built the damn things: Sovereign's age was only slightly less than the relay at the Citadel. We're en route back to the Citadel. Status on the Noveria mission?_"

"We've got a location for Benezia," Takeshi replied. "A research facility on a place they call 'Peak 15'. The ground teams are checking it out now."

"_Keep us apprised. _Ra-Cailum _out._"

The transmission ended, and the crew began voicing their thoughts. "Sir, we need reinforcements. We can't take on a whole fleet, technologically inferior or not, forever."

"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "We need reinforcements from home, ASAP. Only thing is, we have no idea how to go about that."

* * *

_**Jenolan Dyson Sphere**_

* * *

A small task force was being assembled, made up of no less than seven Federation starships, including Voyager. The ships in question included the Monarch-Class USS Mary, the Nebula-Class USS Kyushu, Devron-Class USS Crusher, the Armitage-Class USS Escalvantine, the Kumari-Class Tolkalon and finally the USS Avenger, prototype of her class.

"Admiral, the fleet is assembled," Van'Zyl reported. "All we need to do is head for the Northwest Passage."

"Agreed," Tuvok replied. "Send the order-"

"Admiral, there's another ship entering formation!" the Science Officer reported.

"Identification?" Tuvok asked.

"Checking now… sir, it's the _Enterprise_!"

Indeed, the massive _Odyssey_-Class starship, classified quite rightly as a super-dreadnought by some, and the seventh Federation starship to bear the name, entered formation with the fleet.

"She's hailing us, Admiral."

"On screen."

The image of the Enterprise's Captain, Va'Kel Shon, appeared on the viewscreen. "_Admiral Tuvok, good to see you again,_" he said.

"Captain Shon. Might I ask what it is you are doing here?"

"_Simple, Admiral. The _Ra-Cailum _and her crew saved mine after that battle at Facility 4028, and Captain Pinkerton's done a great deal to help me in the past. The _Raging Tempest_, as well: Captain Yamato saved the _Belfast _twice during the war. I'm paying back a debt. Permission to join the fleet, sir?_"

"Permission Granted, Captain," Tuvok replied. "Let us go find and render assistance to our comrades."

"We just got another message, sir," the Comm Officer reported. "There's another ship that'll be meeting us at the Northwest Passage. Name is USS _Artemisia_… _Phantom_-Class, according to the data packet."

"Prepare to move out." The fleet, led by Voyager, left the Dyson sphere, filled to the brim with supplies to repair both ships once they regrouped.

"Coordinates set, Admiral."

"Engage." Voyager's warp nacelles pivoted into their 'in warp' position before they flashed, followed by the rest of the fleet jumping to warp, on a date with destiny.

* * *

_**Citadel - Officer of the Asari Councilor**_

* * *

Tevos glared at the rotating ornothopic image of the _Ra-Cailum_ on her monitor. The damn thing was barely a fifth the size of the Destiny Ascension! Yet it FUCKING went through the shields like they weren't even there!

"You seem to have a problem, Councilor."

Tevos' eyes widened as she looked about the room. "Who's there?!" she practically shouted.

"Oh, me? I'm not your enemy, Councilor." Tevos stood up, circling madly before being stopped and made to face a young human girl, wearing the same uniform as Pinkerton, only in black. "I can be your friend."

"You're one of _**their**_ people," Tevos realized.

"'Their people'. How amusing, Councilor. My NAME, Councilor, is Flay Allster. I am a member of Starfleet Intelligence. More specifically, a branch called… Section 31."

"…Section 31?" Tevos asked.

"We are a secret to all. Captain Pinkerton didn't even know I was on his ship when I came here." She sat on top of the Councilor's desk. "We answer only to the President of the Federation Council. We do what we must."

"Because you can," Tevos replied.

"Very astute of you, Councilor," Flay replied.

"C-Sec will be wanting to talk to you."

"They don't even know I'm here. I hacked into your security. It's on a loop: they think you're busy working and with your new hobby of glaring at the Ra-cailum's image." She looked at the image. "Nice detail. Not as good as our scans of the DA, but good enough."

"Your scans?"

"_Amenothep_, energize."

Both of them disappeared in a sparkling column of light.

When they reappeared, they were in a room with consoles and panelling that vaguely reminded her of the _Ra-Cailum_. "Welcome to Section 31's personal flagship in your universe. The Federation starship _Amenothep_, _Guardian_-class."

"A third ship in our universe?" Tevos asked. "Why…?"

"We, or rather the _Amenothep_, were tailing the _Ra-Cailum_ and _Raging Tempest_. You see, to S31, those two ships and their captains are VERY important. They can do what few others do and they do it perfectly. And as the highest ranking S31 agent here, I'm technically in command. Please follow me."

Tevos, rather speechless, simply followed Flay down the hallways of the massive ship.

"If you thought the _Ra-Cailum_ was bad, this ship is worse. The _Guardian_-class was designed to supplement the _Sovereign_ and replace the older _Ambassador_ and _Galaxy_-classes as a main-line cruiser. Of course, those two classes just. Won't. Die." They entered a turbolift, and Flay pressed a button to send them to the bridge.

"How come we never detected you?" Tevos asked. "If this ship is built to supplement ships like the _Ra-Cailum_, it has to be large."

Flay chuckled as she disappeared in front of Tevos' eyes. The Asari got the idea. The _Amenhotep_ had a fucking cloaking device! "We knew the _Raging Tempest_ had one," she remarked, "but to have a cloaking device capable of hiding a ship much larger… it boggles the mind."

The redhead reappeared, smiling. "We can hide entire stations if we chose. One civilization could cloak an entire planet." The doors opened, allowing them to walk onto the bridge. "I have an offer for you, Councilor. An offer… you simply cannot refuse."

"What… what is that?" Tevos asked.

"Your race is afraid of the Federation. With good reason, in one or two cases. We can help… destroy that fear."

"Doing what?" Tevos asked. "Joining you? Are you serious?"

"Captain Pinkerton had no doubt informed you of the Prime Directive."

"General Order 1: A Starfleet officer is not allowed to interfere in the development of a society in any form."

"That's to be expected: the man loves reminding people that his job isn't to interfere. The Prime Directive does not apply to warp capable species. Yes, you have your own form of FTL travel, but it's… inefficient. Computer, bring up the _Phoenix _files."

The computer brought up an image of what looked like a repurposed missile.

"What is this?"

"The _Phoenix_," Flay replied. "Named after a bird reborn from its' ashes, the Phoenix was Earth's first warp-capable ship. Barely survived reentry, but it was enough to gather the attention of the Vulcans. That event, of course, was nearly thwarted by the Borg. But they were stopped."

"So… why are you showing me this?" Tevos asked.

"Because I'm giving you the blueprints for the Phoenix's warp drive. Tell your government about the offer, but keep it secret: I had to disable dozens of bugs in your office that were of Salarian origin."

"The STG," Tevos replied. "They're always bugging everything."

"I'll send you back to your office, Councilor. Enjoy the rest of your day." Tevos was surrounded by light again, and reappeared in her office.

She sighed. They were causing problems again… but this time, there might be some good to come out of it.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- sickbay**_

* * *

Ron and Jaden walked into sickbay, having been calling in by Rutia. "Alright, Doc, what is it?"

"I decided to take a good look at the scans we took of our friends on the Council, and compared them to baselines from their respective races," Rutia informed. "Take a look at this."

A graph appeared on the screen. "Alright, what are we looking at?"

"This is a standard scan for an Asari. That a look at the scan from Councilor Tevos." Another graph showed slight but clear differences, as it looked like the brainwave patterns of someone who had been subconsciously reprogrammed.

"So, someone's brainwashed her or something?"

"Infrasound and such. Commander, how long do the Councilors stay in the Council Tower?"

"Most of their careers. They almost never leave the tower."

"That explains that. The station's as old as the relays, so it's brainwashing them into ignoring the Reapers."

"Indoctrination... " Jaden muttered, "I heard Rumors that Cerberus was doing research into something like this… but with little success last I heard. Either way, this isn't good. We need to find a way to stop, then counter that brainwashing."

"Already got the second one done. The first one, I'm going to need Sonja's help with. I might've had a fuckton of engineering training courtesy of a certain captain-"

"Guilty as charged."

"But I'm no specialist."

"Speaking of overspecialized officers, I'm going to find out what's going on with Take, then we're going back on the warpath."

* * *

_**Noveria**_

* * *

"You let the damn thing live?"

"I think Captain Yamato and Captain Pinkerton will agree with me on that part," Shepard replied.

"I know I do," Linda replied. "You don't condemn an entire race for choices they made in the past."

Wrex shook his head. "My people bled to stop these things, and we got neutered as a reward."

"If the Rachni try something, we will take care of it," Linda replied. "Starfleet does own up to its' mistakes. Problem is, the _Tempest_ can't transport this thing out of here."

"We're going to need the _Ra-Cailum_ for this," Hitomi remarked. "What about the rest of the Rachni?"

"The queen asked us to kill them," Shepard informed. "They're basically insane."

"Alright," Hitomi replied, readying her shotgun. "Let's do this."

"Raging Tempest _to ground party,_" Takeshi's voice said over the comms. "_We're getting another transmission from the _Ra-Cailum_. I think everyone's going to want to be up here for this._"

"Understood, Takeshi," Linda replied. "Though we have to deal with a few… mercy kills, I guess… down here. Either we should wait to get back until that's done, or some of us should stay in order to deal with it while the rest return."

Wrex raised his hand.

"We have a volunteer. We'll get back to the beam in site while Wrex kills off all the crazy bugs."

"Except for the Queen."

"Yeah, yeah, I touch that thing, you have my head." The Krogan charged off, screaming bloody murder.

"Think he fought in that war?"

"No clue, but I would not be surprised." The team arrived at a cluster of transporter enhancers, at which time they were beamed out of the lab.

* * *

Linda, Shepard, and Hitomi arrived on the Bridge of the _Raging Tempest_ just as the connection was established with the _Ra-Cailum_. "What's up, Ron?" Takeshi asked.

"_The Council's been brainwashed._" Never let it be said that Ronald Pinkerton was one to beat around the bush.

"Brainwashed?" Shepard asked. "How, and why?"

"_Commander Yulanra's discovered a major discrepancy in their brainwave patterns, akin to Captain LaForge in 2367. I assume you don't need a history lesson?_"

"We don't," Linda replied, "though our two Spectre friends might find it beneficial."

"_Fine,_" Ron said. "_In 2367, the Romulan Star empire decided to frame Starfleet and drive a wedge between us and the Klingon Empire by killing a Klingon governor. The _Enterprise_-D was sent to investigate the cropping up of Federation Type-3 phasers, which turned out to be romulan replicas, and then-commander LaForge was nearly directed to kill the gov in question. It failed. Barely._"

"So, someone's trying something similar with the Council?" Hitomi asked.

"_Not someone. Sovereign. The Citadel was built by the same bastards who built the relays: the fucking Reapers. We're heading back to the Citadel to take care of the… Commander, what's that term you used?_"

"_Indoctrination,_" Jaden said. "_It's what Cerberus always called it._"

"Thank you. Indoctrinated Councilors. Besides, they know our medical technology outstrips theirs by leaps and bounds, and while I'm a bit of an asshole, when it comes to shit like this… I don't lie."

"Understood," Takeshi replied.

"We'll need you here at Noveria soon, though," Shepard informed. "We found why Benezia was here… she had a Rachni Queen imprisoned at a facility in a place the locals call Peak 15. We need to relocate it, but the _Raging Tempest_ doesn't have the room for it."

"_Or the computer space, clearly._"

"_I keep telling you, sir, the boys at the ISDB need their heads checked!_"

"_I'll send the _Ra-Cailum _your way and head back to the Citadel on Commander Takeo's ship. Be quick about it. _Ra-Cailum _out._"

"_Raging Tempest_ out," Takeshi replied, before the channel closed. "Once the _Ra-Cailum_ gets here and gets the Rachni Queen off of Noveria, we'll meet up with Ron at the Citadel."

Sheppard gave Takeshi an odd look. "What was that about 'computer space'?" And that brought up an awkward explanation of how the transporters worked.

* * *

_**Danube-Class runabout USS **_**Zambezi**_**, en route to ex-Cerberus vessel **_**Tarawa**

* * *

'Captain's Log, Stardate 87055.4, USS _Ra-Cailum_ commanding officer recording: My ship is heading to Novaria to pick up a Rachni queen and drop it off on an uninhabited planet somewhere in the middle of nowhere while I head to the former Cerberus vessel _Tarawa_ in order to deal with a clearly brainwashed council. The Prime Directive, which normally prevents me from doing an action like this, now demands my response. Sigma Iota II, anyone?'

Jaden blinked "Sigma Iota II?" he asked.

Ron sighed before remembering that he was speaking aloud. "You've probably heard of our Prime Directive by now, yes?" After Lucy tried hacking into the computers, Ron made sure they had a complete copy of the Starfleet general rules and regulations. Unleashing his… secret weapon was not something he wanted to do lightly, after all.

"Yeah, took a look through it," Jaden said. "Doubt the Salarians will be as willing to follow it."

"Sigma Iota II is a warning." Ron said. "In the 2160s, the USS _Horizon _visited the planet in question, leaving behind several books, including one entitled _Chicago Mobs of the 1920s_. in 2267, the _Enterprise _paid a visit to the planet. I'll leave you to guess what they found."

Jaden blinked, raising an eyebrow "Uhh… what did they find?" he asked. "It's just a book on Chicago Mobsters, right?"

"_According to the reports, the people of Sigma Iota II essentially built their civilization off of what they read in the book,_" Lucy said. "_When the _Enterprise _arrived, they found a 1920's type civilization where everyone walked around with Tommy Guns and run by Mobsters._"

"...What?!" Jaden asked as he looked at Ron "Are you fucking _kidding _me?!"

"Nope. I've been to SI2: brought back a Chicago Typewriter as a souvenir. They've made great strides to get out of the gangland shit, but once you get something ingrained, it's very hard to get out." The Starfleet runabout landed in the Tarawa's hanger, with Ron smirking like a madman. "I even brought it with me."

Jaden groaned, shaking his head. "Your universe is messed up…" he muttered. "Well it could've been worse."

"_How could it have been worse?_" Lucy asked.

"One of the books they left behind could've been the Holy Bible," Jaden said. "That thing fucked humanity during the Dark Ages, repressing scientific advances for centuries. Imagine what it would have done to them? Hell let's also be thankful Mein Kampf wasn't one of the books they got!"

"Funny you should mention that…" Ron said as he walked to the hatch, opening it and allowing them to exit the runabout.

Jordan groaned. "Oh for the love of… that happened too?!" He shouted.

"A historian decided to make the planet Ekos almost exactly like Nazi Germany." Ron said, "As you're probably-"

"Don't tell me," Jaden said, holding up his hand. "Let me guess. The _Enterprise_ was there."

"Yeah. While I deplore their racist bullshit, the Nazis DID do something right. In less than five years, they united, rebuilt and rearmed Germany for war. No other nation its' size ever did anything like it _ever_. Of course, John Gill forgot the cardinal rule of National socialism."

"There's always a Hater..." Jaden muttered, shaking his head. "Hitler turned an economically broken nation into a united european superpower in such short time… but ruined it with his overly racist and fascist policies." He glanced at Ron "What happened to them after the _Enterprise _left?"

"The government still exists there, using the symbols and such, but they aren't viewed as subjects of evil." Ron said. "Just an emblem of government. Starfleet's policy is hands-off. Then again, they DID try to nuke the _Enterprise_."

"Considering the tech you guys have, I doubt it would have done that much to it." Jaden said, "Like using Fireworks against a Dreadnought."

"Didn't even get close: they shot it down." Ron said. "Gill died, gunned down by the deputy fuhrer, but life went on. At least there wasn't an interplanetary war. Trust me, the shit that Kirk got into is the stuff of legends."

"I'm gonna have to do more reading on this Captain Kirk…" Jaden said, nodding "Sounds like one hell of a Captain."

"28 years as captain of the _Enterprise _and _Enterprise_-A." Ron said. "Promoted to Admiral twice, demoted to Captain until he was killed in 2293 during the maiden voyage of a certain starship."

Jaden paused for a moment, before he groaned once more. "_Enterprise_-B, wasn't it?" he asked.

"The B. He was swept into space when an energy ribbon ruptured the hull." Ron said. "He died as he lived: as a Starfleet officer. After all, risk is our business. Of course, there were rumors someone found his body on Veridian III a few years ago, which makes no sense. The only connection Kirk had between the ribbon and Veridian III is a ship."

"Let me guess, _another Enterprise_?" Jaden asked.

"_Galaxy_-Class, NCC-1701-D," he confirmed. "She was destroyed over Veridian III thanks to a pair of Klingons getting their hands on the D's shield freqs, damaging the generator with their first shot so they couldn't remodulate and pounding the living hell out of her. The Big D had the last laugh, though."

"Killed the Klingons before they could kill them?" Jaden asked with a small smirk. "Ya know, maybe the Alliance should've named one of its ships _Enterprise,_ maybe it would've gotten as much luck as yours apparently gets."

"Then you don't know about the middle sister." Both exited the runabout, heading for the command center.

"Part of me doesn't _want _to know…" Jaden muttered, as they passed through the hangar bay of the vessel. Ron took a glance around, and noticed what looked like large multi-meter high machines stacking large crates.

"What are those?" Ron asked, and Jaden smiled a bit.

"A little thing we stole from Cerberus, we call them Titans." Jordan said, "Cerberus wanted to replace their old Atlas mechs with something more mobile, and could accomplish more variable missions on the ground, and survive orbital re-entry. We've used them in combat with Blood Pack, Blue Sun, and Eclipse Mercs, and several skirmishes with the Batarians, they're ideal combat machines that surpass anything they could throw at us, and are very useful when doing heavy maintenance on ships and facilities. Though we're hoping to make even superior versions later on that are more capable of operating in Zero Gravity environments, with better shields and weapons."

"Sounds like a nice counter to the shit those assholes from the Delta Quadrant like to pull out. I'll see if we can do something with them when we make contact with our side." Ron began hearing something, and Jaden noticed that, even if he couldn't hear it.

"Something wrong?" Jaden asked, "You alright Captain?"

"Get us moving. NOW." Ron shouted, "It's coming, and you don't stand a chance against it."

"What's-"

"NOW!" Whatever it was, it was enough to get the captain of the most powerful ship in the galaxy worried, and THAT was distressing in and of itself. Jaden ran to the bridge, and he caught sight of the ship on the screen. A massive ship, unlike any they have seen before, their sensors calculating it at over seventy-eight kilometers in length, being larger than even the citadel.

"…MOVE!" Jaden shouted, snapping the rest of the bridge crew out of their shock "SLIPSTREAM NOW!" They didn't need to be told twice as Lucy quickly locked in a set of coordinates as the _Tarawa_ jumped into Slipstream.

"Begging the Commander's pardon, but what the FUCK was that thing?!" Jaden shouted at Ron.

"A Unimatrix Command ship. They… they're the most powerful ships the collective has at their disposal." Ron said. "We accidentally dragged one in with us."

"_Explains the comm chatter out of Batarian space,_" Lucy said, her image appearing on the Holotank. "_It's been utter chaos over there, we assumed they were entering another state of civil war, not uncommon considering their history…_"

"We found that out a few days after we got here. And the only ones who even remotely stand a chance in hell against those cybernetic bastards aren't here. I would recommend staying away from Batarian space."

"I can't think of anyone who'd _want _to go into Batarian Space even before the Borg." Jaden said, "There's a reason a lot of people call the Batarians 'Space North Koreans'."

Ron's eyes widened suddenly. "We may have no choice."

"Why?"

"Because they just found the most dangerous substance we know of: boronite." The fear in his voice was clear.

Jaden was clueless, and for good reason. After all, the _Enterprise-B_'s computers were fried. He had no idea what boronite was.

Or that it could be synthesized into the most dangerous thing in the known multiverse.

* * *

_**High orbit of new Rachni homeworld**_

* * *

The _Normandy_, _Raging Tempest_, and _Ra-Cailum_ hovered in orbit of the planet, a fair distance away from any Relays. (The _Normandy_ had to be tractored by the _Ra-Cailum_, it was so far out there)

"Well, hopefully it'll be a successful fresh start for the Rachni," Takeshi remarked, the _Ra-Cailum_ having just finished beaming down the Rachni Queen.

"Sir, we're being hailed by Captain Pinkerton from the _Tarawa_," Rina reported. "Sir, this is Omega level: we can't take it on the bridge." That also meant he was to discuss it with NO ONE under the rank of Captain. Not even his wife.

Takeshi sighed. "I'll take it in my office," he replied. "Brok'tan, you have the Bridge."

"Aye, Captain," Brok'tan replied as Takeshi walked out of the Bridge.

"What could this mean?" Kim asked. "Omega level comms are Command-level transmissions. We're the only ones out here."

"Some secret in the computers, maybe?" Rina replied. "I'll find out."

* * *

Takeshi slipped into the seat behind the desk in his office, after manually locking the door. Taking a few minutes to get situated, he then hit a button on the terminal. "Takeshi here," he said. "What's up, Ron?"

The elder captain's face was as stone as he said, "_Directive Zero._" That was all he needed to say. They were dealing with the same problem the Dyson Joint Command was dealing with: the Omega Directive.

Takeshi sighed. "My crew and I have been through the Solanae Dyson Sphere a time or two," he said. "They know about Omega. If it's here in this universe, they should be filled in."

"_Mine haven't,_" Ron replied. "_We used the gateway and nothing more. I expect your crew to keep their mouths shut, otherwise they'll be spending a great deal of time in New Zealand when we get home._"

"Understood," Takeshi said. "So, where are we going?"

"_Borg space,_" Ron informed. "_They found a deposit of the ore. Tell Sonja to begin retrofitting the Normandy with a makeshift torpedo launcher and an armor generator._"

"Wait, you have an ablative armor generator on your ship?" Takeshi asked in shock.

"_I have five. The _Ra-Cailum _was testing a general prototype that would've been outfit to the entire fleet had I had the time to actually test it._"

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied. "Once we've dealt with Omega, think we could try mounting one of them on my ship? Would definitely be interesting to see if it'd work."

"_Later,_" Ron said. "_The ex-Cerberus kids are wondering what the hell's going on. I'll give them the nutshell brief: enough to make fucking sure they get the idea that it's too fucking dangerous. Get it done, Takeshi. _Ra-Cailum _Actual out._"

The image disappeared. Takeshi sat there a moment, before he pressed a button opening a Shipwide Intercom Channel. "All hands, this is Captain Yamato speaking," he said. "Condition Omega, Repeat, Condition Omega."

He closed the channel, and headed up to the Bridge, even as the ship went to Red Alert - Condition Omega was a status indicator Takeshi had come up with after his crew had been briefed in on Omega, and dealing with those particles called for nothing less than Red Alert, as far as Takeshi _**and**_ his Senior Officers were concerned. "Rina, contact the _Ra-Cailum_ and tell Sonja to start refitting the _Normandy_ with an ablative generator and a makeshift torpedo launcher. However, don't mention Omega by name - Ron told me his crew hasn't been on Dyson Duty."

"Understood, sir," Rina replied.

"Wait, they have ablative armor generators?" Matt asked. "I thought only the Intrepids had those."

"SCE must've been busy, and him more so," Rina replied. "I've got them on the horn now."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- bridge**_

* * *

"You're telling me to break every rule in the book about transfer of technology, especially weapons, just because your captain says so?" Sonja asked. "I'm not doing SHIT until I get confirmation from the boss."

Takeshi's voice came on then. "_I was just on the comms with Captain Pinkerton a few minutes ago,_" he said. "_Here's what he said to me._"

There was a few seconds pause, before a recording of Ron's voice said, "_Tell Sonja to begin retrofitting the Normandy with a makeshift torpedo launcher and an armor generator._"

Sonja knew that tone. It was the 'do it or you will suffer' one he liked using. A computer couldn't fake that. "I'll have a crew get ready to do the job." She closed the channel, wishing she didn't have to do this job. The Ra-cailum was an oddity in Starfleet: it had no first officer. Instead, the rest of the senior staff pitched in, sans Rutia, because that bitch was scary. "Fuck."

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy**

* * *

Shepard and Hitomi had been sharing some… quality time… in the Captain's Quarters when the call came in. Now Shepard was staring almost disbelievingly at Sonja. "You're serious?" she asked. "You've been ordered to install some of _**your**_ technology on _**our**_ ship?"

"_This does NOT mean I'm happy about it,_" Sonja replied. "_This is breaking every rule in the book. The only thing keeping me from saying no is the fact that A) this mission is somehow Starfleet-authorized and B) Ron would kill me if I didn't do it. The second you come back, I'm stripping every nut and bolt we add to that thing._"

"Understood," Shepard replied. "I'll tell Adams to expect you, and help if you need it."

"_We won't. _Ra-Cailum _out._" The pissed-off engineer disappeared from the screen.

"Wonder what's going on?" Hitomi asked.

"No clue," Shepard replied, as she sent off a message to Adams letting him know what was going on. "We'll find out soon enough, I guess." She smiled sultrily at Hitomi. "Now… where were we?"

Hitomi smiled back as Shepard kissed her again.

* * *

Tali looked at the miniature warp core being hooked into the Normandy's systems. According to the specs, that tiny thing had ten times the power output of the _Normandy_'s Mass Effect Core. TEN.

"I want those displays hooked into the cockpit!" Sonja ordered. "Joker's going to be practically flying blind, so let's give him some sight!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

Tali wondered exactly what they were installing. "Uh, Commander?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you installing a more powerful reactor? Surely whatever you're installing isn't that energy intensive."

"You would be wrong," Sonja said as she pulled up a file on a Federation starship: USS _Voyager_.

Tali watched, as the _Voyager_ seemed to get an additional layer of armoring over the top of its hull. "That's… interesting," she said.

The footage showed the _Intrepid_-Class ship taking fire from no less then THREE Borg Cubes, shrugging the weapons fire off as though it were nothing. "We're basically installing that on the _Normandy_," Sonja replied. "I don't know why, but I get the feeling you're going into Borg-controlled space."

"Right," Tali said. "So, that takes enough power that we need one of your reactors?

"You're catching on," Sonja replied. "We're also mounting a torpedo launcher to this thing. The torpedo's being modified to standards I didn't know existed: fucking yield on that thing exceeds 160 isotons! We can't fire a conventional torpedo with that yield safely!"

Tali's eyes widened. "Why would you need a torpedo with that kind of yield?" she asked. Not that she knew what an 'isoton' was, but if the main guns of those Cerberus ships couldn't cause too much damage the shields on the Ra-Cailum, the explosive force would have to be...rather excessive.

"I don't know! 30 isotons is enough to vaporize an asteroid the size of Olympus Mons! 80 can destroy a small moon!"

Tali's eyes widened. That _**was**_ a lot of yield. Which begged the question: What could necessitate something big enough to destroy a small moon two times over?

"Not to mention these modifications to the reactor," Sonja remarked. "I've never seen these specs before. It's like we're planning to take the _Normandy_, fly her into a supergiant and make sure she comes out intact!"

"Wait, you can do that?" Tali asked.

"Believe me, that's the LEAST you should be worrying about," Sonja replied.

Now Tali was _**REALLY**_ curious. Armor that could shrug off Borg fire, a Torpedo twice as strong as necessary to destroy a small moon, _**and**_ a modified reactor? Just what was going on? "I have a stupid question."

"Only stupid questions are the ones unasked."

"What in the name of my homeworld do you people run into back in your universe?!"

Sonja chuckled before listing a few off the top of her head. "Alternate universes, time travel and shit that would drive lesser minds insane. Then again, _Ex Astris, Scientia_."

"That Starfleet's Motto or something?" Tali asked.

"No. That's the motto for Starfleet Academy," Sonja replied. "It's Latin for 'From the Stars, Knowledge'. Starfleet's unofficial motto is 'risk is our business', but I prefer something more… substantial."

"Like what?"

"'To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before'." Sonja smirked. "Zefram Cochrane. He invented warp drive."

"This Zefram Cochrane must have been a very interesting man…" Tali mused.

* * *

_**Citadel**_

* * *

The Tarawa dropped out of FTL short of the Citadel, coasting at 300 kph, which was a snail's pace compared to the ship's flank speed, which was barely one quarter that of the _Ra-Cailum_ or _Raging Tempest_. But before they dealt with the council, Ron felt a bit obligated to at least tell them what the hell was going on with the Borg. Which was why they were gathered within the briefing room of the _Tarawa._

"_All recording devices disabled, as per your request, Captain Pinkerton,_" Lucy said from the Holotank.

"Thank you, Lucy," Ron said. "I would like you to remain, if possible."

Lucy's A.I form blinked "_Uh...why?_" She asked.

"Because you're a member of this organization and the Federation recognizes artificial lifeforms if they are self-aware," he replied.

"_Huh… I'm liking this Federation the more I hear about it._" Lucy said, "_Certainly a lot better than how the Citadel Council treats AI's… _"

Ron rose an eyebrow "Let me guess, the Council doesn't like AI's?" he asked, and Lucy sighed, nodding.

"_Yes… so far, any attempt to create an AI by the Citadel results in the AI going insane, and try to attack Organic Lifeforms,_" she said. "_The largest example was the Geth, after they gained sentience, the Quarians tried to shut them all down, fearing what the Council would do. The Geth rebelled, and the Quarians lost not only their homeworld, but the Citadel Council revoked their embassy, forcing their entire species to live in the Migrant Fleet where their already weak immune system deteriorated even more. Now the Quarians are wrongly stereotyped as thieves, street urchins and a burden to whatever system the Migrant fleet is occupying at the moment._"

"Remind me to pay a visit to the Quarian homeworld after we're done here," Ron said. "Take a seat, kids. Before I go on, I want your word that you will NOT speak of this outside of this group of people. I'm breaking a VERY big rule doing this, but I thought you had the right to know. And that you won't try to do anything with the information. Am I clear?"

"Very," Sutura said, nodding, "Nothing spoken here will leave this room without yours and Starfleet's permission."

"Lucy, please pull up Greek letter number… 24."

"_A moment, please,_" Lucy said. On the holographic display, a sort of arch appeared.

"I think you all know the meaning of that."

"Omega, last letter of the Greek Alphabet," Jaden said. "What about it?"

"It gives its' name to the greatest non-sentient threat that I know of." He pressed a key, and a structural lattice work that formed a sphere appeared. "Ladies and gentlemen… Omega. The power generated by this thing in milliseconds is equal to that produced by a warp core in a year. A small string of these things could power a civilization."

"Interesting… however, I have a feeling there is a catch to this," Jaden said.

"It's unstable as fuck," Ron said. "It's like supporting a building the size of the Ra-Cailum on a needle. And once it goes… it goes with a bang. A really, REALLY big bang."

Jaden sighed. "So it's basically a galactic version of splitting an atom?" he asked. "And no one has been able to properly stabilize it?"

"We tried once in the 23rd century." He said. "The entire Lantaru sector was laid barren. When I say that, I mean that this shit destroys subspace. The Borg tried again, losing 15 ships and six planets. The starship _Voyager_ encountered this in the Delta Quadrant, and while it was stabilized for 11 seconds, it wasn't going to stay that way. That's what the _Raging Tempest's_ mission is at the moment: destroy Omega."

"As much as I hate it, I suppose it's for the best," Jaden said. "Omega would make for a good power source, but as long as people like Cerberus are around it's too easy to be used as a weapon."

"I agree," Sutura said, nodding. "We'll stand behind your decision on this, Captain, should we run across any additional deposits of Omega you will be the first person we shall inform."

"One day. But not in our collective lifetimes," Ron said. "Lucy. The recorders can be turned back on. At the moment, we're here to deal with the Citadel council."

"_Got it,_" Lucy said, as the briefing room resumed normal functions.

"So, what's the game plan for dealing with the council?" Jaden asked. "I doubt it's going to be easy..."

"It won't." Ron confirmed. "If I can't reason with the Councilors, I have a backup plan. I sent the information on what the Council Tower does to an unshielded brain to their home governments. Through a few carefully worded transmissions, they've authorized us to do whatever is necessary to make sure those indoctrinated assholes are removed from power."

"Uh…"

"Whatever. Is. Necessary."

Jaden sighed "Alright, I suppose it's a good thing we brought some of our best teams with us." He said, as he activated his Omni-tool. "Get Charlie Team ready for deployment… along with Red Team and Blue Team."

"_Uhh… you want _them_,_ _sir?_"

"Yes, we might need their help soon," Jaden said with a sigh. "Crazy as they are… they are among our best. Just tell them to get prepped."

"I brought several phaser weapons with me, and since you people don't have transporters, we can use the Zambezi for surgical beam-ins. Of course, plan A goes first. We're going in armed."

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy**

* * *

"Did you HAVE to test those armor things by shooting at us?!" Joker demanded.

"Get over it," Sonja replied. "You're still alive, aren't you?"

"Everything working, Sonja?" Takeshi asked as he walked in.

"The ablative generator's working per specs and we've test fired ten class-1 probes from the launcher," Sonja informed. "They're good. Just wish I knew what the hell was going on. Of course, you and yours are going with them while I'm heading back to the Citadel."

"Right," Takeshi replied. "Well, good work. If all goes well, we should be seeing you back at the Citadel soon enough."

The engineer walked off, getting as far away from the ME core until it was safe to beam out, which was done in seconds. "So, Captain, care to tell me what our new mission is?" Shepard asked.

"Given that you're going to be on the forefront of this, I was planning on it," Takeshi replied. "I will mention that this is classified, though - the crew will be informed, but it doesn't leave this ship for any circumstances."

"What, universe-ending information or something?"

"Something like that," Takeshi replied. "And just a note, the Borg use the same sensors as we do, so don't bother with the stealth drive if they're in the system we're heading to."

"Right," Hitomi replied, as they headed to the Command Deck. "So, what's going on?"

"I'll brief everyone at once," Takeshi said as he stepped up to the Galaxy Map. "Joker, put me on Shipwide."

"_You're on, Captain,_" Joker replied.

And so Takeshi briefed the crew on Omega - it was a similar briefing to what Ron gave the ex-Cerberus people, but it was also a little more in-depth, including the known details behind its first discovery, and the fact that the Borg considered it the pinnacle of perfection (aka their equivalent to god).

"_So, we're going to take out a particle that is so fucking dangerous NO ONE is allowed to even know it exists?_" Joker asked. "_I wonder which group of idiots decided to unleash it in our universe._"

"We don't know if it's actually been created just yet," Takeshi replied, "but apparently the Borg have located a source of Boronite Ore in what is now their space - which means they _**can**_ make it. In addition to destroying Omega itself if we find it, we also need to take out that source of ore."

"So, what's our course?" Shepard asked.

Takeshi pointed at a location on the galaxy map, provided to him by Ron.

"That's REALLY deep in Batarian space."

"And since Batarian space is being taken over by the Borg, that means it's also deep in Borg space," Takeshi replied. "We need to go, regardless - once I get back to my ship, we'll set out."

"Then we'd better get you back to your ship."

* * *

_**Omega Nebula, Fathar System, planet Lorek**_

* * *

The bulk of the Batarian fleet surrounded the new research station, in a grand - albeit futile - gesture to ward off the Borg. The Batarians had no idea what they were screwing with. And what the Borg would do when they discovered the boranite had been mined out (there was only a small amount to begin with) and moved to the station.

At that point, a group of Borg vessels warped in.

Most of the fleet were former comrades of the defenders, warped and twisted to the point where they weren't Batarian anymore. The rest were fully constructed Borg spheres, probes and one of the original tactical cubes. During this time, the Normandy and her cloaked escort entered the system, where the battle had just begun.

"THAT is a big ol' shitstorm," Joker remarked.

"_Agreed,_" Takeshi replied. "_And I think I know why the Batarians were trying for Omega - with their normal weapons being nigh-useless against the Borg, they wanted whatever edge they could get._" He sighed. "_Unfortunately, Omega is just too dangerous._"

"It DESTROYS SUBSPACE, man!" Joker yelled. "Hell, I'm getting the feeling that we're just not ready for that kind of power."

"I don't think we'll be ready for a VERY long time," Shepard remarked. "Status on the Batarians?"

Ashley, taking her post on the weapons controls, scoffed. "Like us against the Turians during the First Contact War."

"Ouch," Hitomi replied. "Well, hopefully this gives us an opportunity to go in and deal with Omega."

"We need to get close to the station," Shepard informed. "We'll use the Mako for an airdrop while the _Tempest_ beams in reinforcements."

"Better make it fast: tac cube's moving in on the station!" Joker reported.

"Hitomi, Garrus, Tali, Liara, Wrex, on me!" Shepard ordered, heading down to the cargo bay. "Joker, get us as close as you can!"

Joker watched out the new screens as a Batarian dreadnought exploded under the weight of fire pressed against it. "Oh, yeah, sure, expect miracles. I'm not fucking Scotty, you know! Damn it, deploying armor!"

A shell of armor enveloped the _Normandy_ as it flew forward, stray shots from the Borg and Batarians simply bouncing off the shell.

The fleet engagement was akin to that of classic naval warfare: big guns firing, cruisers screening and tin cans doing what they did best. Problem was, that wasn't working with the Borg.

"Hey, Ash?" Joker asked. "Did they give us more then one of those fancy torpedoes?"

"They gave us a LOT of them: standard 30s!"

"Nice," Joker replied. "Let's use a few of them to light the Borg up!"

"_We'll join in, too,_" Takeshi replied. "_Thin their numbers a bit. Can't do anything about that Tac Cube at the moment, though - need a fleet to bring that down._"

"Might as well give the four-eyed bastards a more fair chance. Arming torpedoes!" A port opened in the Normandy's armor, showing off her new torpedo launcher. "Give em hell, girl!"

The Alliance frigate fired three torpedoes at a trio of former Batarian warships, destroying them in only one shot apiece while the Tempest decloaked and unleashed hell with her pulse cannons.

"Joker!" Shepard yelled.

"We're passing over the station now!" Joker reported. "Go ahead and drop!"

Another port opened in the armor, revealing an open cargo bay from which the Mako shot out, landing on the station's exterior.

The view the assault team were given of the battle was… strangely beautiful. The two ships were doing damage to the Borg, giving the Batarians some limited help, while the Borg continued to damage the Batarians. Then hell arrived in the form of the unimatrix command ship.

"Oh, shit," Shepard remarked as Linda and her team beamed down next to them. "We'd better deal with Omega now."

* * *

"That thing?! Get the research materials out of here!"

The Batarians were scrambling, but to no avail. a beam lanced through the station, damaging most of the station's ME generators, allowing the Borg to beam in en masse. Which they were.

A former human drone transported in front of the station commander, who tried to kill the formerly female and human drone, but the Borg was faster by far, and pinned him before injecting him with nanoprobes and beginning to assimilate him.

The two infiltration teams arrived at the command center in time to see this. "Oh, jeez," Hitomi remarked.

"Never liked seeing someone get assimilated," Linda said as she brought out her TR-116B. "And that drone… I don't think it's a normal one."

The drone turned to face them, then sprung into action. The team opened fire, only to have the Borg dodge _everything _shot in 'her' direction.

"What the FUCK?! I thought the Borg couldn't do that!" one of Linda's team yelled.

"Great, a fucking Borg ninja!" Hitomi snapped before firing off a series of Biotic Warps, trying to restrict the drone's movement.

The damn thing jumped onto and ran along a wall for a moment before launching herself at Shepard, who was beginning to regret over-specializing in sniper rifle use.

"Nicole!" Hitomi yelled.

Both rolled across the deck, the human punching the drone in the face twice before finally landing a shot on her with her pistol, shooting her in the head, missing the brain but hitting something just as important to a drone: the neural transceiver.

At that point, the Drone seemed to hesitate, which gave Hitomi the opportunity to pull it off of Shepard. "You alright?" she asked as she went to check on Shepard.

"Barely," Shepard replied.

Hitomi fired the shotgun at the drone, heavily damaging the exoplating it was covered in, revealing something. Part of a starfleet uniform, complete with silver combadge.

"Wait, that drone was once a Starfleet Officer?" Tali asked.

"And it doesn't look like it's responding…" Linda remarked as the drone just… stood there. She turned to the medic in her team. "Any idea what's going on?"

The medic scanned it with her tricorder, and her eyes widened. "Looks like that shot from Shepard's pistol destroyed its neural Transceiver," she said. "She accidentally severed it from the collective!"

"Lucky shot," Shepard replied. "Get her back to the Mako: we have no time for this!" Wrex grabbed the drone and ran off. "We're going to go find Omega and plant a nice big beacon on it."

"Bullseye," Linda replied. "Let's do this."

* * *

_**Citadel - Council Tower**_

* * *

While Shepard and Takeshi were busy dealing with Omega, Ron and Jaden were on their way to the Council chamber with fully legalized arrest warrants.

"North, Wash, Carolina, you three in position?" Jaden asked into his Omni tool.

"_We're all set up here boss,_" A male's voice responded, "_We've got eyes on the council. They try anything funny, we'll dissuade them._"

"Don't do anything until I give the word." Jaden said, "Hopefully we can do this peacefully. Red Team, Blue Team, you remain on standby if shit hits the fan somehow."

"_Yeah yeah, we're ready here._" Another voice said, "_Let's just get this over with..._"

"_Your just mad that he didn't make you Overwatch 'cause your aim sucks dude._"

"_Oh Shut up Tucker!_"

"Enough, both of you. I don't expect Plan A to work, but I'm hoping it will." Ron said. "Condom rule."

"Dude, that's gross."

"I'd rather have it on standby then not have it, you idiot." Ron said. "Just keep those phasers on stun." Both men walked into the chamber, right in the middle of a meeting with Udina, no less. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"Sorry, Udina, but we're here on orders." Ron said, glancing at Jaden. "Commander, please read the charges to the Council."

"Right, right." Jaden said as he lifted up his Omni-tool. "Councilors, By the power invested in us by the Turian Hierarchy, Salarian Union, and the Asari Republic, we are placing you under arrest for the charges of General incompetence and failure to do your jobs correctly."

"What?!"

"You can check in with your counterparts back on your homeworlds: this is legal."

"Like hell it is!" Sparatus shouted, "Officers, take them down! Arrest the other human and kill Pinkerton! They're trying to usurp the Council!" However a moments after he said that, red laser dots appeared over the heads of each of the councilors, and several more appeared over the chests and heads of the officers in the room.

"Yeah, think twice asshole." Jaden said. "Come quietly and peacefully, or we'll take you down by force. "

Two officers decided to take the bluff, and opened fire on the pair, which resulted in a LOT of weapons fire begin exchanged and the two men taking cover. "Times like this I wish I brought my armor with me!" Ron shouted.

"That's something you should wear at all freaking times, like me!" Jaden said, as he pulled out his Rifle and Omni-tool. "All teams, move in! Take 'em down!"

"Try reading diplomatic protocol next time!" Ron pulled out his compression rifle and began unleashing phaser bolts on every C-Sec officer in range, stunning all that didn't dodge or took cover. "Where the hell's the Council?!"

"They ran off to a shuttle! They're en route to the DA now!"

"Goddamn it!"

Jaden chuckled. "Don't worry," he said. "I've got… someone to take care of that. They won't be going far."

* * *

The Councilors were scared shitless. The Starfleet-supplied men were currently fighting back the waves of C-Sec personnel rushing into the Tower, and they had barely escaped a sniper shooting at them. "We need to contact our home governments." Spartus said, "If he was telling the truth-"

"He wasn't, Spartus," Tevos said. "He has technology that can do anything he wants!"

Valern sighed. "Let's hope your wrong," he said as the doors opened. "The guards should have the area-" However he was cut off when they looked outside, and their eyes widened. Scattered across the ground were the either dead or unconscious bodies of dozens of C-Sec Guards, some lied unmoving while others were whimpering in corners. The only figure standing was leaning against the shuttle, wearing a set of full black power armor with a golden visor.

The figure stood up, taking a few steps forward as it cracked its knuckles "So…" the voice - now confirmed to be female - said. "Who's next?"

"...FIRE EVERYTHING!" The Councilors were only armed with tiny pistols (unlike the Federation, whose security services were INSANELY good at their jobs, the Council had to rely on themselves for defense as well as their guards) but they drew and opened fire regardless. However by the time they fired, the woman seemed to vanish through thin air, and moments later Valern fell to the ground, Sparatus was swatted away, and suddenly Tevos felt a tap on her shoulder, causing her to whirl around as the figure was suddenly right behind her.

"You wanna see how I can rip your skull out, and beat you to death with it?"She asked.

"That… doesn't seem physically possible."

"Funny, that's exactly what he said," the woman said, tilting her head towards a human whose skull lied next to his head, which looked like a bloody pulp.

"That's enough, Tex." Both looked at Jaden and Ron, who both approached from the same entryway the council did. "How the hell did you get out of there unscathed?"

"Deflector shields trump kinetic barriers any day." Ron said, as he tapped his commbadge. "_Zambezi_, where the hell are you?"

"_En route, Captain._"

"Good going, Tex," Jaden said, glancing around her handiwork. "Though… could you show a bit more restraint?"

"I only killed the corrupt ones with bounties," Tex said, sighing. "Don't worry."

"Mind if I give her a full on commission?" Ron asked, "She'd be welcome on the _Ra-Cailum_'s security force." The slightly boxy form of the _Danube_-Class _Zambezi_ landed nearby, and the side hatch opened to allow them to enter. "Step inside, Councilors. We have a few people wanting to talk to you."

Knowing it was crazy to go against Tex, plus Jaden and Ron and Starfleet, Tevos simply nodded as she walked aboard the Zambezi, as Tex carried both Valern and Sparatus by their collars behind her.

"Bit of a technology lesson here, kids: we don't use AIs or VIs," Ron said. "The computers are a sort of mix between the two while not being truly self-aware. As such, there is no way we could fake this." Ron pressed a few buttons, bringing up the faces they DIDN'T want to see: the leaders of their respective governments. While the Council were the ones that led the unified force, their home nations were the ones who had THEIR leashes.

"Councilors. We were informed by Captain Pinkerton that, due to certain measures, you have not been doing your jobs properly," Jaden said. "And… let's be brutally honest here… you never were. We have reason to believe now though, that you have fallen under the influence of Reaper Indoctrination because, big shock, _they _built the Relays and the Citadel, not the Protheans. They found them just like we did."

"That's impossible!" Tevos shouted.

"The Ra-_Cailum's_ sensors scanned the relays." Ron said. "We dated them to be at LEAST 300 million years old. The Citadel is almost one BILLION years old. The Protheans were only 500,000 years old."

On his screen, Primarch Fedorian seemed to be rather annoyed at this. "You are sure?"

"There are very few things in this universe that can screw up my scanning technology." Ron said, "Getting through an ME field was easy. Finding the indoctrination devices in the tower? That took a bit of doing, seeing as we didn't build the damn place and we mistook one as a load-bearing column at first."

"And if you need more proof, look at Saren," Jaden said. "Say what you want about him, but he was dedicated to the Council and the Spectres. Yet now he's your enemy working with the Geth, who are working for the Reapers. I think it's safe to say any Reaper-built structures release this indoctrination effect to some degree at least."

"Captain, if that is the case, we require your aid in evacuating the Citadel." The Asari Republic representative said, however Ron shook his head.

"Not needed: the only signs of it we've seen are in the tower." He said, "Then again, what's the best way to destroy a civilization?" The Asari chosen to speak for the Republics winced before giving the answer. "Corrupt and destroy its' leadership."

"Bingo." Jaden said, "We should be glad we found it when we did. I think it goes without saying you should close down the tower until we can find a way to eliminate the indoctrinating effects of the tower. And you'd best get some new councilors until we can make sure we removed the indoctrination out of Tevos, Valern, and Sparatus."

"We will send someone that can fill in their places. Captain Pinkerton, your engineering crew's services are being requested."

"They're a bit… busy."

"Busy doing what?"

Ron smiled. "Classified."

* * *

_**Back with the **_**Normandy**

* * *

"I AM NOT DOING THIS AGAIN!" Joker yelled. The command ship was gunning for them, and the _Raging Tempest_ was barely keeping the rest of the Borg fleet at bay. "Can we PLEASE go pick up the ground team?!"

"Not until they give us the signal," Takeshi replied. "We need to make sure Omega's been dealt with before we retrieve the ground team and get the Hell out of Dodge."

"_Shepard to _Normandy_: the station's overrun with Borg! We need to fall back!_"

Ashley eyed the 'special' torpedo on the screen. "We'll get you out, boss lady. Then we can blow the station to hell."

"_The Borg will still get Omega!_" Shepard reminded.

"Not if I hit that station with something powerful enough to blow up a small planet," Ashley said.

"_Good idea,_" Takeshi replied. "_Ground Team, fall back to the Mako and prepare for extraction. Once that's done, we fire off the torpedo and run like our lives depend on it._"

"Which they do!" Joker remarked as the armored frigate and starfleet warship doubled back toward the station, everything shooting at each other AND at them. "This is going to be interesting."

One wrong move, and the Mako would end up on top of the _Normandy_. The aforementioned armored vehicle drove off the exterior, just as the hatch opened and allowed them to get onto the ship while practically ruining the cargo bay.

"ASHLEY! ARM THAT TORPEDO!"

"Already done!" Ashley reported. "Ready to fire!"

The _Normandy_ fired the overpowered weapon of doom at the station, just as both ships banked and escaped, jumping to FTL and warp before the torpedo blew with enough force to vaporize anything within 300 kilometers. "Oh, god," Joker groaned. "Never again."

"Get the _Raging Tempest_ on the horn," Shepard ordereded. "We've got someone they might be able to identify."

* * *

_**An hour later, **_**Raging Tempest** _**Medical Bay**_

* * *

Takeshi and Linda walked into the Med Bay, where Mogire and her admittedly limited medical staff were working to remove most of the nonessential implants on the drone they'd recovered. Even the EMH was being used, and that was saying something. "How's she doing, Mogire?" Takeshi asked.

"Perfectly fine, once we get her back to the _Ra-Cailum_," she replied.

"Problem?"

"To a degree," Mogire informed. "We have a VERY limited sickbay. The _Ra-Cailum_ has better and more fully equipped facilities. Hell, any hospital in this universe probably has more equipment then this ship does."

"True," Takeshi replied. "Well, we're on our way to the Citadel to rendezvous with the Ra-Cailum so that Sonja can remove our tech from the Normandy - we can transfer her over to them then." He paused. "Anything we need to know now regarding her? Database matches, anything like that?"

"I'm running her through, but I'm more worried about the sheer number of implants she's got in her body. She's a Class-3."

Takeshi winced.

There were five classifications to assimilation. Class-1, you were just stuck and you've got the bare minimum to be a Borg drone. Class-2, fully assimilated, complete with exoplating and whatever they replaced. Class-3s had certain things removed: like a large percentage of the brain to make room for a positronic brain based, to a degree, on Data's.

He had an inkling that Ron was a Class-3: most ex-drones still had trouble using skills they didn't normally have. Ron didn't.

The computer interrupted his musings as the computer made its' announcement. "_Match found in Starfleet personnel database._"

"Well, looks like we know who she is now…" Takeshi said, as he looked at the screen. "…Captain Natarle Bonaparte?"

Linda's eyes widened in recognition. "I saw her name when looking up Ron's file while you were at the Citadel that first time, Takeshi," she said. "She was Ron's first CO, and they were apparently an item before they both got assimilated."

The face was damn near the same. The left eye was gone and and there were enough cybernetic implants to make it almost impossible for a human to ID. But the computer didn't have that problem.

"Well, we're doomed," said one of the medics.

"Not us necessarily," Takeshi replied, though even _**he**_ looked at her warily. "Just anyone who tries to take down the Federation or stand in their way." He paused. "I'm going to head up to the Bridge - Ron should be informed about this."

* * *

_**USS **_**Zambezi** _**\- enroute to USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

Ron had nothing against the Tarawa. It was a good ship, with a good crew. But it wasn't a Starfleet ship. More importantly, it wasn't the _Ra-Cailum_. "God, it is good to be home," Ron said as the shuttle landed in bay one, happy to finally get back to his ship. A scream was heard as he watched Vasir fly out of the turbolift again. "I see they let you out."

"YOUR FUCKING SHIP IS CURSED!" The Asari yelled as she ran off screaming, much to his amusement.

"Mission successful." He walked into the same lift and manually input the coordinates for deck one, arriving only moments later.

"Captain, we're receiving a hail from the _Tempest_," Corpsa informed.

Ron chuckled as he took his chair, his crew acting like he hadn't been gone. "On screen."

Takeshi's image appeared on the screen. "Good to see you again, Ron," he said. "And back on your ship, no less."

"I prefer my own command. _Tarawa_'s a good bird, but she's nowhere near the levels of the _Ra-Cailum_. But you're not calling about that. What's going on?"

Takeshi grinned. "_Well, we completed our mission - we're on our way back to you now, so Sonja can have peace of mind as she removes our tech from the _Normandy_._" The grin got larger. "_We also got an unexpected bonus - I've had Rina send the appropriate files to your Ready Room. I will say right now, though, you should have Rutia get your Sickbay ready - our medbay isn't quite equipped to deal with our new… guest._"

"I guess I'll find out when you get here. _Ra-Cailum_ out." The transmission ended. "Does he know about our computer problem?"

"The fact that all private files sent straight to your ready room get deleted the minute they get uploaded unless you give your say-so? No, he's fucking clueless."

"Well, I like surprises. When they're not trying to kill me."

* * *

_**Agressia**_

* * *

The Asari Republics had replaced Tevos, but the deal stood, and although Flay was reluctant to bring the _Amenothep_, she did bring her private shuttle, the _Markus Wolf_. As such, she was standing in front of a bunch of test pilots, ready to brief them on what they were going to face.

"So, you're the 'special advisor' for this project?" one of the pilots asked.

"That's right. Flay Allster. As of the moment you successfully complete this program, you will deny knowing my existence. Speak of me to anyone, I will have you… removed. Am I clear?"

"Crystal clear, Ma'am," the pilots all replied.

"Good." She brought up the file on the Phoenix. "This is what you will be piloting. An Asari-designed version of the _Phoenix_. Your government have expressed a desire to join the Federation, but your knowledge of subspace is so lacking, I could fill the hole with enough water to float a gas giant and it STILL wouldn't be a thousandth full."

"And that's a bad thing?" one of the pilots asked.

She pressed another button, showing a ship exploding and causing a MASSIVE hole in the fucking FABRIC OF SPACE/TIME. "Your lack of knowledge will be your doom." The simple fact that they had something that could do… THAT was enough to make them all almost shut up.

"Okay, so… I guess we start with lectures on the subject?" another pilot asked.

"To a degree. Subspace is a layer of space under normal space, and is nigh-indestructible. It takes a LOT to do damage to it. It has an infinite number of layers, and it allows us to circumvent the laws of physics, allowing us to go to speeds you can't dream of with warp drive."

The pilots all nodded, taking notes on the subject.

"It is THE prerequisite for joining the Federation. Planetary unity and such are also mandatory, but warp drive is the most important. I'm here, unofficially, to GIVE you access to this technology. Now… I'm not giving you everything." '_Yet._' "Just enough to get you started."

"Right," the 'lead pilot' in the group said. "Well, let's get to work, shall we?"

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest** _**\- near Citadel orbit**_

* * *

The tiny (considering the mass, which was only forty thousand tons) ship dropped out of FTL, alongside the Normandy, which had lost its' armor.

"I want that generator," Matt remarked

"I know," Takeshi replied. "We could certainly use it in battles against the Vaadwaur back in our universe, not to mention the edge it provides against the Borg. Still, let's worry about one thing at a time. Rina, hail the _Ra-Cailum_."

"Right," Rina replied.

"Ra-Cailum _Delivery Service. How may I direct your call?_"

"…What the hell?"

"_What is it, Captain? The boss is currently blowing something up on the Citadel._"

Takeshi sighed. "Would you ask Ron if he'd like to come aboard? I'd like him present to oversee the transfer of our guest from our medbay to yours."

"_I'll tell him when he's done._" On the screen, parts of the Citadel Tower exploded. "_Looks like he's done. I'll tell him to beam over._"

"Thank you," Takeshi replied. "Tell him I'll meet him in the transporter room."

* * *

Mid-transport, Ron thought about the station shaking kaboom he just caused. 'To think, all I did was use about ten photon grenades.' Photon grenades were fist-sized explosives, using the same M/AM reaction as a photon torpedo. The difference, of course, was size. Photon grenades were more… precise about the explosive yield. You could either blow up a dollhouse or level an entire building. Depends on what you wanted.

"Welcome aboard, Ron," Takeshi said as Ron materialized on the Transporter Pad. "Did you take a look at the files I sent you?"

"And no one told you that they get deleted unless I press the 'save' button. And since I wasn't on the ship, you can guess."

Takeshi sighed, then facepalmed. "Alright," he said, grabbing a PADD as he led the way out of the Transporter Room. "Main reason I sent the files rather than just tell you outright is that our 'guest' is actually a Borg Drone that attacked our ground team when they went to deal with Omega. Apparently Shepard shot the Drone in the head, missed her brain, but got her Neural Transceiver instead. We brought the drone with us. The reason we need to transfer her is because our medbay isn't equipped to deal with a Borg Drone properly - it's not equipped to deal with a _**lot**_ of things properly, but Borg Drones are pretty high up on that list." He started tapping buttons on the PADD, bringing up the data they had on the drone, including the database match.

"More reasons to kick the ISDB's ass when we get home."

"She's _**also**_ someone you know," Takeshi added, passing Ron the PADD.

Ron took the PADD in hand, and seconds after seeing it, dropped it and started running. Takeshi blinked in surprise, picking up the PADD in the process.

"Guess they really _**were**_ an item," Takeshi remarked, before running after Ron.

The people in sickbay were not ready to see a 6 foot tall man running in, looking like a frantic madman. The second his eyes locked onto the drone in question, he slowly approached the table. "How is she?" he asked.

"Took a bullet to the head," Mogire replied. "It ricocheted off the jaw and hit the neural transceiver. She'll be fine, once we get her to your ship."

"Sonja's been bitching about this ship and its' lack of capabilities since the day she was assigned to the _Ra-Cailum_. The moment we get back, I'm unleashing her."

"Wouldn't mind it," Mogire remarked. "We're capable of handling the basic medical needs of the crew, even serious injuries, but not much else."

Ron placed his commbadge on her before tapping it twice. The Borg drone that was and would be Natarle Bonaparte was beamed out and to the _Ra-Cailum_'s sickbay. "I'm going back to the _Ra-Cailum_," he said once that was done. "I have paperwork to do."

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied, having come in at that point. "We won't keep you."

He left, and they all knew what that expression meant. He wasn't planning on being the captain for much longer.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- Sickbay - 15 hours later**_

* * *

The _Ra-Cailum_'s medical staff had much more luck removing the unnecessary implants from Natarle's body, making her look more human again.

She looked almost normal, if it weren't for the lack of black hair on her head. "57% of that shit is now OUT of her body," Rutia remarked. "The rest, she can't live without. At least the Borg can't hijack her in the middle of a sentence."

Rutia did not like Natarle. Ron had said that if it were up to him, he would have stayed on the _Katti _under her command. He planned on self-demotion and putting her in command. Not happening: this was his ship, and his crew.

A groan was heard from Natarle, who was beginning to wake up. She was very much a tomboy, albeit one with an attractive body. Ron wasn't interested in that. It was the fact that they were so similar that got them together. "Where the fuck am I?" she asked.

"You're in the sickbay of the USS _Ra-Cailum_, _Sovereign_-Class," Rutia replied. "Welcome back to life outside the Collective, Captain Bonaparte."

She touched the top of her head, wincing at the lack of hair. "Ron's not going to - RON! Where is he?!" she asked. "He's a Lieutenant Commander, did you-"

"He's FINE," Rutia replied. "And it's CAPTAIN. He's the Captain of this ship. And I'm going to make one thing VERY clear to you."

Natarle sighed. It looked like there was a bit of a story to be had. "And what's that, doctor?" she asked.

"He is the captain. Not YOU. I don't like you. You're the one that stuck him and turned him into a Borg drone for 8 years. He's probably thinking of demoting himself and putting you in command. That will NOT happen. Am I clear?"

Natarle nodded. "Perfectly," she said. "If he's made Captain, then he's earned it."

"Good. Now sit still: I'm going to stimulate your hair follicles and get at least some of the hair he likes back on your head."

* * *

After 45 minutes, Natarle walked out of sickbay, putting her hand through her short but at least THERE hair. She was going to need a new uniform, as the spare Rutia had given her was the wrong division color.

And the wrong size. 'My chest hurts like a bitch.' She walked into a turbolift, calling out the location she planned to go to. "Bridge."

The lift carried her smoothly there, and she stepped out onto the ship's Bridge.

The bridge crew didn't even give her a glance as she walked into the captain's ready room, which was surprisingly bare. Then she saw Ron carrying a box out. "Nattie! nice to see you up."

"What's all this?" she asked.

"I'm going to be frank. I'm not comfortable with two captains on the same ship. Kirk might've, but he was _Kirk_. I'm demoting myself to Commander and putting you-"

"Ron, don't," she said. "For one thing, if you were promoted to Captain, you fucking _**earned**_ it. For another, this crew is loyal to _**you**_. Your doctor especially. They'd likely resent me for taking your spot."

"There's only one captain."

"And that's you," Natarle replied, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'll stay, but I'm not staying at the rank of captain. You don't have a first officer. I'll take the job, unless…"

"No," Ron said. "The job's yours. Just… get to the quartermaster's office. You look like an idiot with a uniform two sizes too small. Your breasts must be sore as hell."

"Subtle," Natarle chuckled. "True, regardless." She then wrapped Ron in an embrace. "It's good to see you again, Ron."

"Damn right."

* * *

_**Northwest passage**_

* * *

The fleet, officially led by _Voyager_, (if you asked everyone else, though, they'd say they were following the _Enterprise_) entered the passage, weapons armed and ready. "You are sure this will take us to wherever the two vessels exited?" Tuvok asked.

"We'll end up in the same universe and the same galaxy," Van'Zyl replied. "As for the same location they are… No. but we will find them, Admiral."

"Very well," Tuvok replied.

The ships moved into position for the crossing, joined by an eighth ship - one that was inspired in design by the _Defiant_-Class Tactical Escorts, but was much thinner, and had no front protrusion. It was also a very dark blue, almost black, with light blue glowing lights along various portions of the hull. The USS _Artemisia_, one of the new _Phantom_-Class Intelligence Escorts.

"All ships reporting in, Admiral," Van'Zyl informed. "We're clear."

"Then activate the deflector array," Tuvok ordered.

The Swiss army knife of science that was the deflector dish fired off a high energy tachyon pulse into the closest quantum singularity, while the _Enterprise_ used its' dish to create a graviton beam to enhance the effects and direct it. "The rift is open, but unstable!" Van'Zyl reported. "We need to go NOW!"

"All ships, enter the rift," Tuvok ordered, and the fleet moved forward, entering the rift one by one.

* * *

_**Horizon**_

* * *

A peaceful colony world, Horizon was chosen by human colonists that wanted nothing to do with the Alliance. Unfortunately, they were about to have a LOT to do with the Alliance, as a supply ship was about to discover.

As the ship approached the colony, its crew were surprised to see some kind of rift opening.

"What the fuck." It was not a question. It was a statement. A statement broken by a MASSIVE ship, all curves, coming through the rift, with human markings written on the saucer section. They read USS _Enterprise_ NCC-1701-F. More ships, like and yet unlike the huge monster: USS _Voyager_, _Evcalvantine_, _Crusher_ and on and on.

"OK, this is unusual," the ship's captain remarked.

"The one labelled _Voyager_'s contacting us," the Comm Officer reported. "Sir, doesn't that big one look kinda like the _Ra-Cailum_ we keep hearing about?"

"Yeah, it does," the captain replied. "Alright, put 'em on."

The comm turned on. "_This is Admiral Tuvok of the Federation starship _Voyager," came the voice of a dark-skinned man with… were those pointy ears?

"Yeah, uh, Kenneth Roland, MSV _Argo_," he replied. "Are you related to that Pinkerton guy and the _Ra-Cailum_ we keep hearing about?"

"_They are part of the same government organization as us, yes,_" 'Tuvok' replied. "_It is good to hear that we made it to the same universe they are. Do you know where they are at the moment?_"

"No clue. They've been running around the galaxy with some Spectre, though, doing some crazy shit. Uh, we have supplies we need to deliver down to ground. We can always go to the Citadel and ask if anyone knows where they are after we're done."

There was a brief moment of silence. "_Very well,_" Tuvok replied. "_We will wait until you are ready, then follow you to this 'Citadel'._"

"Uh… you're not using any ME fields. I don't think you can follow us, Admiral."

"_Then we will assist you in dropping off the supplies. Time is of the essence._"

"Alright, I guess that works," Kenneth replied.

* * *

**USS **_**Voyager**_

* * *

"Admiral, that ship doesn't have any warp drive," Van'Zyl informed. "Yet we're over 50000 light-years from Earth."

"A mystery that the captains will have to have solved for us," Tuvok replied. "They have been here for over a month." The sight of the Delta Flyer leaving Voyager and heading for the Argo filled the screen as the Admiral began to analyze the situation. They weren't using any subspace technology. It was slightly disconcerting. But it was a mystery the _Ra-Cailum_ and _Raging Tempest_ had long since solved.

"Admiral, the _Artemisia_'s signaling us," the Comm Officer reported. "They're going to head out on their own to explore this galaxy. They've mentioned they'll be under cloak the whole time to avoid detection."

"It is unlikely they will go far. Permission granted, regardless."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- Citadel - 15 hours later**_

* * *

The ship was barely getting used to having a real XO. Natarle, now with a properly sized uniform (one that didn't squash her rather… sizable bust) sat in the chair assigned to the first officer, working on paperwork that the rest of the senior staff and Ron normally had to deal with before she formally demoted herself to Commander and became the XO.

"Sir, we're being hailed by an approaching transport: MSV _Argo_, inbound from Horizon," Corpsa informed.

"Interesting," Ron replied. "Put them through."

"_This is Captain Kenneth Roland of the _Argo," the Argo's captain said as he came on screen. "_A pleasure to finally meet you, Captain Pinkerton._"

"Captain, with due respect, I'm about to head out: there's a certain organization I need to behead."

"_You should pay a visit to Horizon: there's a few people wanting to talk to you._"

Ron sighed. "Oh, what the fuck," he said. "Riza?"

"On it, Onii-san," she said. "Setting course for the Relay now."

"Corpsa, tell Takeshi to take care of whatever the hell Shepard's got to deal with. We'll handle whatever's at Horizon." Hopefully, Cerberus laid a trap for them.

* * *

**Ron the True Fan: Game of thrones, check. The destruction of galactic civilization as they know it, check. **

**Takeshi Yamato: Reuniting Ron with his lover from before he was assimilated, double-check.**

**117Jorn: Titanfall and Cerberus ass kicking incoming, triple-check. **

**Ron the True Fan: Let the fun part begin. Next time, Feros and Virmire.**

**Ja Ne!**


	4. Chapter 3: The Long, Hard Road

**Ron the True Fan: Do I LOOK like Gene Roddenberry, or that I work for Paramount or CBS?! Tell the bloodsucking lawyers to piss off!**

**Takeshi Yamato: We also don't own Mass Effect, or anything else that might make a cameo in this story… what can I say, I love importing things from other franchises and tweaking them to fit the destination! It still belongs to whomever created it, though.**

**117Jorn: We just own our characters and their shit. HIT IT! :D**

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy**

* * *

Engineers from the _Ra-Cailum_ were busy uninstalling all the Starfleet technology that had been installed on the ship to deal with Omega. The _Normandy_ crew was watching them as they went about their work.

"They sure are efficient," Ashley remarked to Kaidan, whom she'd taken to sharing lunch with a lot these days. "Took less than a day to install everything, taking even less time to take everything out again."

"Heard they're heading over to the ex-Cerberus ships to do a few upgrades of their own," Kaidan replied. "Not that they'll be able to do much: there's only so far a piece of technology can go."

The shield generators were based on technology 90 years old, the computers were ancient, even if they were extremely advanced, they were out of date by Starfleet's standards, and… well the list went on. Commander Takeo had went aboard to see what Ron could give them, and he took his AI with him just before they ran to Horizon.

"True…" Ashley replied. There was a brief pause. "On another topic, still a little hard to believe that the drone we recovered during that mission was Captain Pinkerton's lover."

"Fucking Borg ninja." Both looked at Hitomi, who had entered the room. "She was FAST. Scared the shit out of me."

"At least she's on our side now," Kaidan remarked.

"Correction: she's on RON'S side," Hitomi said. "I pity the universe."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- en route to Horizon**_

* * *

"Well, I'm doing everything I can short of breaking the Prime Directive by doing this, Commander," Ron said to the Ex-Cerberus commander. "You can't expect miracles."

"I understand, though I hope soon our ex-Cerberus forces might actually become part of Starfleet, so we wouldn't have to worry about this," Jaden said. "I've got multiple ideas for Starfleet… especially giving your MACO a much needed upgrade. Maybe turn them into a Starfleet Marine Corps, something more permanent that doesn't get sized down during peacetime. Hopefully it will be easier once we get in contact with more of our ex-Cerberus friends."

"More?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you and your mother left with all your supporters."

Jaden smirked, shaking his head. "Not at all, just a large amount of them," he said. "We deserted to draw attention away from others who support our cause. As far as TIM knows, the Takeo Family's forces were all that there were, but we've got agents and supporters across several Cerberus cells. They'll continue to spread dissidence through Cerberus's ranks, and when the time comes… we kill Cerberus from the inside out."

"Dropping out of FTL, Captain," the Helmsman reported.

Ron gestured Jaden to take a seat to his left.

"_You've got a nice ship, Captain!_" Lucy spoke through the bridge speakers. "_Thanks for the database access: I..._"

"Lucy, I prefer speaking to someone face to face," Ron said. A few moments later, in the corner of the bridge's main screen, Lucy's face appeared.

"You feeling alright, Lucy?" Jaden asked, as the AI's Avatar smiled.

"_Never felt better!_" she said. "_You can't imagine the wealth of information, the knowledge so much, so fast! Its awesome! I hope one of these days I can upgrade myself with the advance features your ship computers have Captain, with them I could probably do like a billion times more things than I can do now!_"

"I'll see what I can do," Ron said. "Computer, activate holographic interface."

"_Interface active._"

"Sorry, but we kinda need the viewscreen." Her image faded for a moment, distressing Jaden for a moment until a hologram materialized on the bridge, looking just like Lucy. However her Avatar was now much more detailed, rather than having a glowing red and orange body, she looked almost perfectly human - with the exception of her short devil-like wings, tail and horn - with shoulder length crimson red hair and bright red eyes. Lucy blinked in surprise, as she looked at herself.

"Wow… I didn't know your bridge had a Holographic interface like this…" She said in surprise. "Still got some reading I need to do I suppose…"

"Not just the bridge," Ron said with a small smirk. "The entire ship." The Ra-cailum decelerated to sublight, and lights began flickering. "I didn't cause that!" Lucy shouted, raising her hands.

"I know." Ron said, "Sonja?!"

"Working on it!" Shouting was the order of the day. "I found the problem: it's the ME core! Dark energy's corrupted the electroplasma! I'm going to need to take everything offline and switch to batteries! Dumping the plasma now!" Outside, the warp nacelles vented gas like there was no tomorrow.

"There are days I hate my life." Ron muttered.

"Didn't anyone tell you Element Zero has a corroding effect to anything not properly shielded?" Jaden asked with a raised eyebrow, "It's why people with Biotics can do such heavy damage to unprotected armor, it's why we have mods for suits to prevent things like that. If you want, I could call the _Hercules_ over here and have one of my engineers help construct proper shielding around your ME Core to avoid that from happening."

"Wasn't that. It was the dark energy the core was producing." Sonja said, "I thought I could hook it directly into the EPS network without… this happening. don't worry: I can fix it. I'm just going to need someone to get me nebular plasma so I can-"

"Just get it done," Ron said. "How long until we reach Horizon?"

"Current ETA, 12 hours, 48-" Corpsa blinked "-What the hell?"

"What?"

"I'm picking up seven IFF beacons in orbit." She said, "Sir… they're Starfleet."

"Starfleet?" Jaden asked, glancing at Ron. "Well, I think we've figured out what the _Argo_ meant by people wanting to talk too you."

"They might've found out what happened," Ron said.

"They're approaching at full impulse," said Corpsa "ETA: 2 minutes."

"On screen." The holographic display showed the image of a small Starfleet task force, led by an Intrepid-class ship they all knew.

"_Voyager_," Corpsa said. "Admiral Tuvok himself came here?"

"Not just _Voyager_. The _Odyssey_-Class to port." They looked and vaguely made out the registry: NCC-1701-F.

"Ohhh… shiiit…" Jaden muttered, "_Another Enterprise_… they are _not _going to like what Cerberus did to the B Either…"

"Let's worry about that later," Ron said. "Hail _Voyager._"

"Aye sir," Corpsa said, and moments later the lights shut off at this point. "Wonderful."

"Not enough for lights and comms, sir," Sonja said, as the face of Admiral Tuvok appeared seconds later. "_Captain Pinkerton. We were curious as to your situation._"

"It's bit more… complicated than you think, sir." Ron said.

"Indeed. I will have you beamed to Voyager to debrief us and effect repairs to your ship."

"That would be grand." Tuvok nodded respectfully as the link was cut. "So, Jaden, care to join me?"

Jaden shrugged. "Might as well," he said. "I'm interested in seeing what other Federation ships look like from the inside. Lucy, stay here - and _please _don't try hacking into their systems."

"Right, right," Lucy said, before her hologram flickered off.

"Well, time to climb."

"Climb?"

"If we barely have power for life support, the turbolifts are down. So, climbing through Jeffries tubes time."

* * *

_**USS **_**Voyager**

* * *

The climb was shorter than both men thought as they were beamed directly out of the tube midstep. "I was not expecting you to try climbing through the Jeffries tubes to the transporter room."

"Better safe than sorry, Admiral."

"Would have prefered a bit of warning beforehand, but we're here regardless, I suppose…" Jaden muttered.

The Admiral rose an eyebrow at Jaden "Captain?"

"Admiral Tuvok, Commander Jaden Takeo, formerly of Cerberus." Ron said, "Jaden, Admiral Tuvok of the UFP starship _Voyager_." Both stood up, with Ron straightening out his uniform.

"Cerberus?" Admiral Tuvok asked in surprise, "Is that not a human mythological creature?"

"Cerberus is a Paramilitary organization created by a man called 'The Illusive Man', sir," Jaden said. "They used to be a Black-Ops unit for the Systems Alliance before they went rogue as a Human survivalist organization. Me and my family used to agree with the basic goals of Cerberus - ensuring humanity's survival against hostile alien forces, however considering TIM's rather… questionable operations, especially against aliens like the Quarians who'd be much better allies than enemies, we deserted."

"They've also made the biggest mistake to ever make against Starfleet." Ron growled, and Tuvok raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"They found the _Enterprise_-B, which ended up in this universe, reverse engineered what they could from her and SCRAPPED her." The transporter chief behind Tuvok was trying to keep his anger from going out of control after that. He didn't need to.

"Follow me, gentlemen."

Jaden sighed, as he and Ron followed the Admiral, '_Cerberus is screwed in so many ways its not even funny._' He thought to himself, '_Okay, maybe it is a little bit._'

"Your emotional control is slipping, Admiral, if I may say so." Ron commented.

"In what way, Captain?"

"It's subtle, but your facial features are not neutral." He said, "You are angry, and you are attempting to not lash out. Might I say you're doing a hell of a job doing so." Tuvok walked into the turbolift, followed by both men.

"You know, Ron, he doesn't LOOK pissed." Jaden said.

"I am Vulcan: we must learn to control our emotions, lest they destroy us."

"They suppress them to the point where they seem completely emotionless, but they aren't," Ron said. "They like to make everyone think that way, though."

"That _can't _be healthy…" Jaden said. "People shouldn't lock up their emotions like that… it just makes it all the more harder when those emotions come bursting out. Some Asari try to do that - the Justicars, but even they can't keep their emotions hidden and suppressed forever."

Ron chuckled. "They pay for it every seven years." He said.

"Captain, I am… uncomfortable speaking of this."

Ron looked at Tuvok. "Sir, it will not leave this turbolift," he said. "Vulcans have to go through the Pon Farr - the Blood Fever, in English - every seven years after reaching adulthood. Emotional control goes out the window and they need to go home to… conceive a child."

Jaden blinked at that. "So… every seven years, their emotions go crazy, and the only way to regain control is to… get kinky?" he asked. "That's… definitely among the weirdest things I've heard about your universe so far."

"You ain't seen nothing yet," Ron said as the doors opened, allowing them to enter the bridge and walk to the ready room, which was once Kathryn Janeway's.

"Where is the _Raging Tempest_?" Tuvok asked.

"At the Citadel, or wherever the hell the _Normandy_ is right now," Ron said. "Probably finishing up some shit on Feros. Regardless, we're not going to be able to contact them unless we restore power to the _Ra-Cailum_. We have the ONLY communication device capable of contacting them from here."

"And why has the _Ra-Cailum_ lost power?"

"Element Zero and Dark Energy," Jaden said. "It's not exactly something from your universe. It's all part of the Mass Effect core which allowed people from out universe to travel Faster than Light with the use of the Mass Relays, capable of flinging our ships from one side of the galaxy to the next."

Ron nervously chuckled. "Mostly true, but it is sort of in our universe. It's currently lining your warp core."

Jaden looked at Ron. "And you didn't tell me this?"

"You didn't ask, plus it's not element zero: it's trilithium resin. My chief engineer is currently working on a way to make it work without corrupting our EPS system."

"I see. We will lend you our assistance."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum **

* * *

"Fucking element zero piece of fucking shit!" Sonja shouted as she kicked the ME core after hooking in the new power convertor, which would allow them to use the core without shorting out the EPS grid. Again. "Need any help?" Sonja jumped and landed on the deck, seeing Lucy standing there. "Don't do that!"

Lucy giggled a bit. "Sorry, I just discovered the holographic interface of the ship, and I LOVE it!" she said. "Its much less limiting than the Holotanks on Cerberus ships."

Sonja shook her head before kicking the core again. "Engineering, do we have enough untainted warp plasma to reactivate the EPS network?"

"_Yes, ma'am: a few hundred containers were just beamed over from the _Enterprise_. We're introducing it into the system now._"

"Thank you. restart the reaction and get this ship back online." She said, as the lights turned back on, and Sonja sighed. "I'm going to tell my counterparts how to make these things. Hopefully the _Tempest_ isn't suffering from this… problem."

"Uhh… Murphy's law, Sonja." Lucy said, causing the engineer to blink. "Remember they're using a retrofitted Geth ME Core."

"Fuck."

* * *

"That's the general situation," Ron said, explaining the situation to the Admiral. "You can court martial me later."

"Starfleet Command will not punish you for following regulations, Captain," the Admiral said. "Commander, your situation is… different."

"Ron told me that he would assist in proving Ex-Cerberus forces with asylum," Jaden said. "In exchange we assist in hunting down hardcore Cerberus loyalist and the Illusive Man himself. We have already provided him with the locations to all Cerberus bases that my family knew about, and I can send them to your ships as well."

"I see."

"I've also given them field commissions to the rank of Commander," Ron said. "I just need you to confirm them and-"

The door chime was heard, and tuvok allowed whoever it was to enter. It turned up to be Van'Zyl. "Admiral, the Ra-Cailum is fully operational, and Commander Henderson is briefing our personnel in the construction of these...mass effect cores." she said, "It appears we are going to need them."

"We will not be staying long, Captain."

"Sir, Cerberus took the B and TORE her apart," Ron said. "They STOLE our technology-"

"They WHAT?!"

"Yeah, Cerberus found the _Enterprise-_B, stripped her of her technology and scraped her." Jaden said, "Not the smartest thing TIM has ever done, obviously. "

"The Federation Council will not be pleased."

"To say the LEAST," Ron said. "No one fucks with an _Enterprise_ and gets away with it."

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest** _**\- Virmire orbit**_

* * *

After dealing with something called a Thorian on Feros (Takeshi was tempted to call a General Order 24 on the planet to deal with the thing, but the ground team had managed to take it down), they'd gotten word that Saren's base of operations had been discovered on the planet Virmire.

Once again, Takeshi was remaining up in Orbit while Linda joined Shepard on the ground team.

And while Matt had indeed thought of the same idea Sonja had, of connecting the ME Core to the EPS Grid Directly, he was also well-versed in Murphy's Law, having had to deal with all manner of problems involving new technologies (especially from Dyson Duty), and thus had run computer simulations in advance, before deciding it'd be safer to build an adaptor unit.

"We're receiving a hail from the _Ra-Cailum_," Rina reported. "It's rather garbled. What in God's name happened to them on Horizon?"

"No clue," Takeshi replied. "Put them through, and clear it up as best you can."

The transmission was garbled to hell, so they barely got a word that made sense. The one word they did get was '_Enterprise_'. That had a few meanings for them. One, they found a piece of the B. Two, the F somehow made it over. Regardless, Ron's orders stood: protect the _Normandy_.

"Rina, see if you can send them a message back, letting them know how badly garbled theirs was," Takeshi ordered. "Once we're done here at Virmire, we'll return to the Citadel."

"Aye, Captain," Rina replied.

The warning alarms started going off at the tactical station. "Uh oh," Tholra remarked. "We have company."

"Company?"

The _Tempest_ shook from a beam hitting it. A beam fired from a VERY pissed off Reaper going by the name of Sovereign.

"Looks like Mr. Reaper-With-The-Same-Name-As-The-Class-Of-The-_Ra-Cailum_ is here for another round!" Matt yelled.

"This will be a glorious battle," Brok'tan remarked.

"Let's go, people!" Takeshi called out as he gunned the throttle, dodging another beam as he brought the ship around to face the Reaper.

The massive dreadnought-class Reaper fired its' beam weapon at them, hitting the shields again while the Raging Tempest returned the favor with her pulse cannons, scarring the hull with every shot. Sovereign didn't fire for a few seconds, but then lashed out with a beam more powerful than before. "HOLY SHIT!"

"Shields at 84%! What the hell did that thing DO?!"

"He charged up the beam to an overload, like we do with the phasers!"

"Even so, it'll take more than that to bring us down!" Takeshi yelled, as he continued ducking and weaving around the Reaper, firing at it whenever he had an angle and proving just why he was considered one of the best pilots in Starfleet.

"_**YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED. YOUR EFFORTS ARE DOOMED TO FAILURE. WE HAVE FOUND WHAT WE NEED.**_" The Reaper reduced its' mass before rolling and smacking the Tempest with its' tendrils, sending the ship into a spin.

Takeshi growled. "We won't let you wipe out all of galactic civilization again!" he roared at Sovereign.

"_**IT IS INEVIT-**_" Sovereign was cut off as an explosion behind the Reaper caused the massive ship to break off its attack.

"_This is the Ex-Cerberus vessels _Hercules _and _Tarawa," a voice called out, belonging to none other than Amy Takeo. "_To the Reaper Sovereign, shut the Fuck up!_" Approaching from behind Sovereign and the _Raging Tempest _was the _Hercules _and _Tarawa,_ the former opened fire on Sovereign while the _Tarawa _moved into the planet's atmosphere.

Takeshi sighed. "_Hercules,_ this is _Raging Tempest, _thanks for the hand," He said.

"_Don't mention it!_" Amy said, "_We intercepted the STG call, and we decided to help out. _Tarawa _will head to the surface and assist in assaulting Saren's base, we'll help you out up here against the oversized shrimp!_"

The Reaper was pissed, and overloaded its' main cannon again, firing on the _Hercules_. Unlike the Tempest, which had the advantage of being two centuries more advanced, the _Hercules_' shields barely held onto the beam before it cut into the hull, causing heavy damage. But not enough to knock her out of the fight. "Guess the deflector shields held, at least for a while," Amy mused. "Hope we get those Modern upgrades after this. Fire Broadsides!"

The _Hercules _banked left as its multiple R91 Broadside Deck Guns unleashed a salvo of Kinetic and energy weaponry at the Reaper, while some shots hit its Kinetic barriers, the energy weapons - unaffected by the Kinetic barriers - tore on through them as they impacted along the Reaper's hull, melting off a considerable amount of its armor.

The _Raging Tempest_ pounded the Reaper with phaser fire, but at this point, the Reaper had enough. "_**YOU WILL DIE, STARFLEET. I KNOW NOW WHERE YOU ARE FROM. AND WE WILL COME FOR YOU.**_"

The Reaper ran from the two ships, likely to pick up Saren. "Well, this is bad," Takeshi remarked

"_Worry about that later, we're beginning the attack on Saren's base,_" Amy said, as she chuckled as pods began to launch from the _Tarawa,_ breaching the atmosphere. "_They're about to learn a very important lesson about War down there…_"

* * *

**Meanwhile - Surface of Virmire **

* * *

The plan, as it was, was to beat the shit out of the Geth, blow up the cloning facility (Wrex wasn't happy, but Shepard talked him down) and GTFO. Didn't go as planned, even with Starfleet's help. First off, Saren had been screwing with the laws of nature: some Krogan had Borg implants and weapons. Nightmare fuel at the best of times. Secondly, the bomb could only be triggered manually. And Shepard wasn't leaving ANYONE behind. Third, Geth. Lots and lots and lots and LOTS of Geth. So much that EVERYONE was sick of seeing them. "JUST FUCKING DIE!" Shepard shouted as she slammed on the head of yet another Geth Trooper.

"Tarawa _to ground forces: we're dropping troops to support the attack. Stand by for Titanfall._"

"Titanfall?" Kaidan asked, "The hell does that mean?"

Shepard put her hand to her helmet. "ETA?!" A Prime was crushed by a large pod, and two more Geth were crushed by the hatch blowing off. "Right the hell now. Bip bap BAM!" A hand appeared out of the pod, wielding a pistol as the figure shot three Geth Trooper's dead. However that was not the end, as the sound of additional pods was heard, as Shepard and the others looked up as they saw three objects soaring in, leaving behind a trail of smoke from re-entry. As they neared the ground, the three pod's external areas exploded… and then slamming onto the ground were a trio of 7-8 meter tall Giant Robots, two of which immediately stood up with weapons raised, while the third remained crouched.

"We'll cut a path for you people!" The Trooper shouted as he approached the third machine, which seemed to react to his presence as it raised up its arm, gently grabbing the trooper, opening its cockpit as it placed him inside. "We're gonna shoot any Geth, Borg or Cloned Krogan Son of a bitch dumb enough to get between us and the bomb site! Keep yourselves together! 'Cause you're coming with us!"

All three blinked, but got to work. The Geth futilely tried to stop them, but the massive machine was practically unstoppable. "That's right, you mothers! RUN!"

A red beam barely missed the squad and the mech, signalling the arrival of Sovereign. "Oh, shit."

"So, Shepard…" All of them turned to see a platform carrying their foe, Saren Arterius. "Enjoy your stay?"

"Your hospitality leaves a bit to be desired, Saren," Shepard snarked back.

"Well, Sovereign is EXTREMELY angry at your friends." Another beam was fired at another part of the complex. Sovereign WAS pissed. "So I thought to unleash hell on you. Nothing seems to work, though."

However at that moment one of the Titan's fired their gun at Saren's platform, causing it to explode, forcing Saren to jump off as it crashed. "_You talk too much!_" The Titan pilot shouted. "_Quit flapp'n your split lipped gums so I can stick my Titanic-sized boot up your Turian ass!_"

"My apologies, but I have better things to do." He ran off, barely dodging weapons fire from everyone and thing as he ran for a departing Geth dropship, under the protection of Sovereign and his really big gun. "Oh, crap."

"GET BACK!" Sovereign fired at them once more, allowing Saren to escape. "Damn you, you turian fuck!" the Titan pilot shouted. "Get back here and die!"

"Don't worry about him," Linda replied. "We'll get him next time. Right now, let's get that bomb going."

"I'm not leaving anyone here to die, Commander," Shepard replied.

"Relax. Whoever volunteers to blow the bomb is going to be given an ETU. We're not leaving anyone to die."

Shepard shook her head. "_Raging Tempest_, did you track that fucking Reaper?!"

"_We've got it on sensors, and it's leaving the system, heading for the relay,_" Takeshi replied. "_We have a good idea of where he's going._"

"Where's that, may I ask?" Hitomi asked.

"_Some system out by a formerly Rachni controlled relay in the Pangaea Expanse,_" Takeshi said. "_We couldn't narrow it down anymore than that._"

"It'll have to do!" Shepard yelled. "Kaidan, arm the bomb; everyone else, get the fuck out!" The ground forces ran like mad, heading for where the _Normandy_ was waiting for them. The Titans boarded one of the Heavy Dropship's, which quickly took them up towards the _Tarawa_ as said vessel began to leave the atmosphere.

Kaidan, meanwhile, winced before activating the ETU just as the Geth were swarming on his position before the bomb went off, causing an explosion the size of the Tsar Bomba detonation on Earth back in the 1960s.

* * *

**Ex-Cerberus vessel **_**Midway**_ **\- Citadel**

* * *

The sight of over forty Turian, Asari and Salarian ships entering orbit of the Citadel was slightly comforting to Sutura, as the _Midway_, _Missouri_ and _Kyoto _remained at the Citadel, watching the Council vessels prepare for the upcoming battle with the Geth and Sovereign. The Systems Alliance was preparing to send the 5th Fleet to aid in the battle as well, but they had yet to arrive yet.

'_If Sovereign is as deadly as we think it is, they'll need us to actually do any damage without resulting in massive casualties._' She thought to herself, '_Aside from our ships, only the _Raging Tempest _and _Ra-Cailum _stand a chance against that beast._'

"Ma'am, the _Tawara, Hercules, Normandy_ and _Raging Tempest_ just entered the nebula. Message says 'mission complete; complications caused by Sovereign; also, contact with Ra-Cailum lost'. Should we send a ship to investigate?"

Sutura thought for a moment "Where was the _Ra Cailum's_ last known location?" She asked.

"According to the data, they were en-route to Horizon to investigate intel from the MSS _Argo._" The Operator said. "No info on what the intel was aside from it being 'people they'd want to talk to'."

Sutura thought about it for a moment, with the _Hercules _and _Tarawa _back, she supposed they could send at least one ship. "Send a message to Captain Keyes of the _Kyoto._" She said, "I want her to head for Horizon, see if they can find out what happened to them, then report back."

"Aye Ma'am."

The _Normandy_ headed for the docks while the _Raging Tempest_ remained in orbit, and Sutura had the feeling that Ron would order the _Tempest_ to remain at the Citadel. It WAS more well-armed than the _Destiny Ascension_, after all.

* * *

_**Citadel - Council Chamber**_

* * *

Shepard and Hitomi had headed for the Council Chambers almost immediately after they landed, having been summoned by the new Citadel Council.

"Here's hoping they see reason," Shepard remarked.

"Commanders." They caught sight of Udina, who had survived the… incident without harm. 67 C-Sec personnel didn't see it that way.

"Udina."

The ambassador was not pleased with their disrespect. "The Council is… not pleased. Unlike the last one, they're dismissing the Reapers completely, calling that super-dreadnought a 'Prothean relic'."

"I don't believe this! Which group of idiots put them in charge?"

"Funny you should mention that, considering the _Ra-Cailum_ isn't in-system."

"I know that Ron exposed the indoctrination effects and got the last Council at least temporarily out of power, but that doesn't mean he was in charge of picking the new members!" Hitomi snapped.

"He didn't pick them. He put them in charge."

Three different Councilors waited for them. "Commanders. Introductions are probably necessary, but we have work to do. Give us your report."

They did, explaining in detail the raid on the Virmire facility - including interacting with the second Prothean Beacon found there. "The Conduit's on a world named Ilos," Shepard finished. "Saren's likely headed there next."

"If your data is correct, that's in the Terminus systems. We're not going to risk open war simply because you think Saren's going to find some weapon there."

"Then what the hell's with the huge fleet?!"

"They are to protect the Citadel. Nothing more. You and your… Starfleet friends have done your job." Udina, smug as fuck, looked at them. "You heard them, ladies. You job's over. Now they take over. With my help."

"What the-?!" Hitomi exclaimed.

Shepard snarled and left, ignoring everything else.

* * *

"So, fuck the Council?" Hitomi asked later.

"Fuck THIS council," Shepard replied. "The old one might've been brainwashed, but they knew what the hell we were up against. Remember that history file on the Enterprise? NCC-1701?"

"Didn't Kirk steal it when he needed to go to that Genesis Planet, but got stonewalled by his own command?" Hitomi asked, before she grinned. "So… we steal the _Normandy_?"

"We steal the Normandy."

* * *

**USS **_**Raging Tempest**_

* * *

"Sir, we're receiving a call from Citadel Security," Rina informed.

Takeshi snorted. "What the heck do they want?" he asked.

"No clue, but patching them through."

The face of a Turian appeared on the screen. "_Captain Yamato, we need your assistance. Someone is stealing the _Normandy_!_"

Takeshi snorted again. "Is that all?" he asked. "Everyone steals the _Enterprise_ at some time in their career."

"…_What?!_"

"He's not kidding," Linda replied. "Someone's tried to steal the Enterprise at least 12 times."

Blue blood trickled down the Turian's face.

"Are… you alright?"

"I think you gave him an aneurysm."

"Eh, no biggie," Takeshi replied. He watched as the _Normandy_ left the Citadel, heading for the Mass Relay. He had an idea who was 'stealing' it, and where they were going. "Good luck out there, Shepard… you're going to need it."

* * *

_**En route to Ilos**_

* * *

"So, what's the plan?" Kaidan asked.

"Generally?" Shepard replied. "Find the Conduit, disable it and kick Sovereign's ass. In lieu of that, the Normandy heads back to the Citadel with the third fleet. I want as many people we can load into the Mako as possible. The more, the merrier."

"All of us?" Kaidan asked. "You're an insane driver, Shepard."

"Am not." Shepard replied.

"You are: everyone on the _Ra-Cailum_ and _Raging Tempest_ say so, and that's from sensor readings only."

"Nicole's not an insane driver," Hitomi defended. "Everyone else just doesn't have the guts to drive the Mako the way it's _**meant**_ to be driven."

"Maybe you and the helmspeople should have a driving contest. See who's better."

"Maybe we will. Get in the damn tank."

"Actually-"

"Shut up, I know it's not a tank."

As the group began moving down to the Mako, Ashley and Kaidan paused for a moment. "Kaidan… don't die down there, alright?" she said. "Virmire was a rather close call for all of us… I'd rather not let that happen again."

"Are you... hitting on m-"

Ashley pulled off his helmet and frenched him, shutting him up.

"About time!" Wrex called out. "The sexual tension was killing us!"

"S-Shut up, Wrex!" Ashley yelled.

"HAHAHA!"

"Alright, that's enough, Wrex," Shepard replied. "Ashley, Kaidan, I know you two have a bit to talk about, but we're on the clock, now - There'll be time enough for that later."

"Shepard, we've reached Ilos! Get ready for a VERY hard drop!" The doors opened, and out the Mako went.

* * *

_**Ex-Cerberus vessel **_**Kyoto** _**\- arrival at Horizon**_

* * *

"They what?" Captain Miranda Keyes shouted in surprise, with Sutura's image on the monitor. "The Council said no?"

"_They think the Conduit is nothing but a ploy by Saren, which is bullshit,_" Sutura said with a sigh. "_They are waiting for the fight to come to them, which is a very bad move as far as we're concerned. Commander Shepard has hijacked the _Normandy _so they can head over to Ilos, and stop Saren before its too late. I'd send help, but we're already busy here, since like it or not, the big fight WILL be fought here at the Citadel. Once you find out what the status of the _Ra Cailum _is, contact me. All things depending, I'm gonna ask you to either head to Ilos to help Shepard, or return to the Citadel to aid in the defense._"

Miranda sighed, but nodded "Very well ma'am, we're about to drop out of Slipstream in a few moments. We'll contact you when we get more info." She said.

"_Very well, _Midway _out._" Sutura said as her image disappeared from the main screen.

"We're dropping out, ma'am."

"Action Stations." She said, "Just in case."

"Ma'am, with due respect, if the Ra-Cailum was destroyed, we're pretty much fucked." The Operator said.

"Then let's hope _Ra-Cailum _is still active," she said, as the ship dropped out of FTL, in front of a rather sizable fleet of ships. "What the Hell?!"

"We've got contacts! Multiple ships in orbit of Horizon!" the sensors Operator shouted. "Wait… Ma'am, I'm picking up Starfleet IFF's, the _Ra-Cailum's_ one of them!"

Miranda looked out the front of the view screen, and as the Operator reported there was indeed the USS _Ra Cailum,_ along with multiple ships which all bore a similar design to it as well, and judging from their IFF, they were indeed Federation Starships. "Looks like they came looking for the _Ra Cailum _and _Raging Tempest…_" she said.

"We're being hailed by the _Ra-Cailum_."

"Put him through," she said, as Ron's face appeared on the screen. "Ra-Cailum _Actual here. I haven't had the honor of being introduced, Commander._"

"This is Captain Miranda Keyes of the Ex-Cerberus ship _Kyoto,_" Miranda said. "Miss Takeo asked for us to ascertain your condition, since your last message came in rather garbled according to the _Raging Tempest._"

"That's what happens when an EPS network is corrupted by dark energy: NOTHING works right for a few hours." Ron said. "We're currently outfitting the fleet for a little… field trip to the Citadel. We could use some help."

"I can have some of our engineers help, however we do have a problem," Miranda said with a sigh. "The _Normandy _has managed to gain the location of the Conduit, at the planet Ilos. However the new Citadel Council refused to send a fleet over to secure it, as they are dismissing the existence of the Reapers completely, and 'don't want to trigger a war with the Terminus Systems'. The only action they are taking is assembling a fleet to defend the Citadel."

"_They don't stand a chance in hell against Sovereign,_" Ron said. "_We do. Send over the teams: Admiral Tuvok will want to meet with you personally in the meantime. While he seems emotionless, he is VERY pissed off about the B._"

Miranda sighed, of course they have been informed of what Cerberus had done with the _Enterprise-B._ "Understood, we'll prepare sending them now. I'll be over there shortly."

"_Not the _Ra-Cailum. Voyager_. Pinkerton out._" The image of space returned to the monitors.

"So, we've gone from 'we're fucked' to 'THEY'RE fucked'."

"Damn right we have."

* * *

_**Ilos**_

* * *

"THIS IS MADNESS!" The Mako was rolling down a hill at flank speed, everyone screaming as they did so. Why? The Geth had sent EVERYTHING TO KILL THEM and keep them from the mini-relay that was the Conduit.

"NO! THIS! IS! ILOS!"

"We know that!"

"We're instituting movie night if we survive this." After running over another armature, the Mako made contact with the relay, and was sent forth. "I'M GOING TO PUKE!"

* * *

_**The Citadel**_

* * *

46 ships, not including the _Tempest_ and ex-Cerberus fleet, were waiting for the Reaper and his friends to show up.

"Sergeant, are your forces ready?" Sutura asked, as an African American sergeant wearing the Cerberus assault armor minus the helmet was on the screen, smoking a cigar.

"_Don't worry, ma'am, we've got the Titans ready, Drop Pods loaded and Dropships prepped,_" he said. "_They won't know what hit them when those sons of bitches show up._"

"See to it, Sergeant Johnson," Sutura said. "Good luck."

"_Yes Ma'am!_" Sergeant Johnson shouted, "_You heard the lady! Move like you've got a purpose!_"

"Contacts coming out of the nebula! Holy shit, that's a lot of-"

"Spit it out!"

"Over 150 ships… including Sovereign." Sutura knew EXACTLY why there were so many. It was 150 meters long, was piloted by its' captain and was so overpowered, it wasn't funny.

"_Looks like a Target Rich Environment,_" Takeshi remarked over the Comms. "_And they haven't even seen all I can do yet. Tholra! Set the Cannons to Scatter Volley Mode, and queue up a Full Spread of Quantum Torpedoes, Proximity Detonators._"

The _Raging Tempest_ moved ahead of the Citadel Fleet and into firing range before opening up, the Pulse Cannons sending out a veritable _**cone**_ of fire, while _**thirty-five Quantum Torpedoes**_ were fired from its torpedo launchers.

Explosions obscured the view of the Geth Fleet, but when they faded, over half of the enemy ships were gone.

"Remember, Captain: Sovereign's Ron's problem. Let's save some for him."

* * *

Inside the troop bays of the _Tarawa,_ Ex-Cerberus troops dawned their armor and helmets, and mounted onto any King Raptor Dropships closest to them with their assigned platoons, as Ex-Cerberus Titans were loaded up as well, along with vehicles and armor. At one area of the ship, Sergeant Johnson entered the vehicle bay where his Platoon awaited, all of them having lined up in two rows of six.

"Men, this is where we show that split-chin son of a bitch that he could not have picked a worse enemy than the human race!" Johnson began, his voice booming across the entire hangar bay as he marched down between the two rows. "Once again, it will be our job to finish what the flyboys started. Make no mistake, we will be leaving this ship, platoon, and engaging the Geth on solid ground. I don't care of Sovereign is God's own anti-sonofabitch machine, or a giant-ass squid! We're not gonna let 'em have the citadel! What we _will _let 'em have, is a belly full of lead, and a pool of hia own blood and to drown in! When we meet the enemy, we will rip their skulls from their spines, and toss them away laughing! We're gonna blow the hell out of those dumb bots, until we don't have anything left to shoot them with! And then we will STRANGLE them with their own, cold wires and guts!"

He paused for a moment, before he spun around to face his men again. "AM I RIGHT MARINES?!" he shouted.

"Sir! Yes, Sir!"

"Mmmhmm, damn right I am." Johnson said, "Now move it up! Double-time! All you green-horns ready to see Geth up close! This is gonna be your lucky day! Just keep your eyes down range, fingers on your triggers, and we all come home in one piece!"

* * *

_**Citadel**_

* * *

A human screamed in pain as he was shot by Saren en route to the Council Chamber. "15 years I've been waiting for this moment. It is time." He marched into the empty room, activating a hidden control panel, and smiled as he relaxed, ushering the Reaper's victory. Though it would take a while to warm up the Relay, so he couldn't quite relax just yet.

* * *

Despite the help, the Citadel fleet was STILL getting its' ass handed to it: three cruisers were destroyed, a half-dozen frigates were just gone and the _Destiny Ascension_… well, she was minutes from getting blown apart.

"Where in the HELL is the _Raging Tempest_!" the _Ascension_'s Captain asked,

"On the other side of the battle!"

Even WITH its' better weapons, it was only one ship. The Ascension rocked as consoles sparked. "We've lost shields!" The captain winced as two Geth dreadnoughts prepared to fire… only to be cut down by four red-orange beams fired from the nebula.

The _Ra-Cailum_ swept onto the battlefield, followed by seven other craft of various sizes, one of which was deploying a wing of Peregrine Fighters.

"_This is Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the _Ra-Cailum," Ron's voice said. "_Sovereign, this is your last chance to stand down. I will not take responsibility for what happens._" The Reaper turned to face the Starfleet armada.

"_**EVEN IF YOU DESTROY ME, YOU CANNOT STOP OUR RETURN,**_" Sovereign's voice boomed. "_**THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN.**_"

"_Well, you just signed your death warrant,_" Ron said. "_Admiral, permission to engage?_"

"_Granted, Captain,_" Admiral Tuvok replied. "_We will support the rest of the fleet. The… Reaper known as Sovereign is your primary target._"

Seconds later, the Normandy and the Alliance Fifth Fleet arrived.

"Engage and destroy!"

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy**

* * *

"Holy. Shit." Joker could say nothing else. He was watching a Federation fleet in action. '_Where the fuck did they come from?!_' The largest ship in the fleet, bigger even than the _Ra-Cailum_, banked, showing off her name and registry: USS _Enterprise_ NCC-1701-F.

"Looks like some of Captain Pinkerton's allies came looking for him," Pressley remarked.

The three-nacelle ship fired a beam of death, the same one it used to save the _Destiny Ascension_, at another Geth ship, destroying it in one shot. The one with its' nacelles under the saucer section and with a pod over the saucer used some form of beam to draw a group of Geth ships together before firing a bunch of torpedoes at them.

"Remind me never to piss these guys off." Joker remarked.

"Raging Tempest _to _Voyager," Takeshi's voice said over the comms. "_Good to see you again, Admiral Tuvok. How did you manage to find us?_"

"_It took time, Captain, but we managed to locate this universe and enter it,_" Tuvok replied. "_We encountered the _Ra-Cailum _in orbit of Horizon._"

"_With all due respect, tell him later, Admiral!_" Ron yelled.

Peregrines and shuttlecraft of all kinds fired on Geth fighters, allowing the surviving ships a great reprieve.

* * *

Meanwhile, Shepard's team had made it to the Citadel, fighting their way up to the Citadel Tower and Saren.

At this point, the turian was VERY annoyed. "WHY WILL YOU NOT JUST DIE?!"

From the Turian's point of view, they had destroyed everything. They had ruined his plans, done the impossible, and even brought Federation reinforcements to undo everything he had done!

"Shut up, you insane bosh'tet!" Tali yelled. Saren opened fire on her position, only to take several bullets from Wrex's assault rifle.

"Die, you son of a bitch!" the Krogan shouted.

Meanwhile, as most of the team kept Saren and his Geth busy, Shepard and Hitomi stealthily made their way to the control panel, and uploaded the program the Prothean VI had given them, which cancelled out the command Saren had given, and shut down the Relay functions of the Citadel.

"Ra-Cailum _to _Shepard," Ron said. "_We're seeing the Citadel arms opening. I assume you've done something to make Saren's day suck?_"

"NO!" The Turian, ignoring everyone else, rushed at the two human Spectres, roaring in rage. "YOU WILL NOT STOP THEIR ARRIVAL!"

"We won't let the Reapers have their way!" Hitomi yelled, using a Biotic Charge to slam into Saren, knocking him off-balance.

"We won't let them kill us off!" Shepard added, firing a shot from her sniper rifle which blew through Saren's chest.

Wrex then tackled Saren to the floor, and placed his shotgun against the Turian's skull. "And I won't let you enslave my people again," he growled before pulling the trigger, blowing Saren's head to bits.

"It's done," Shepard said, finally. "The Council better not fuck us over for this."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

The _Ra-Cailum_ dodged another shot from Sovereign before firing her phasers into the Reaper's main gun, disabling it. "We gave you the chance to surrender," Ron said. "Now you die. Corpsa?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Quantum torpedoes. Full spread."

Several Quantum Torpedoes fired off into the Reaper, finishing it off.

"Geth forces are retreating! We've won!"

Cheering broke out, but the tactical console beeped. "Sir… we're being hailed."

"By who?"

"Sovereign. But… "

Ron narrowed his eyes. "Put it through."

"_**YOU MAY HAVE DESTROYED SOVEREIGN AND STOPPED US FROM USING THE CITADEL,**_" a voice as ancient as Sovereign's boomed, "_**BUT YOU CANNOT STOP US. OUR RETURN IS INEVITABLE. THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN.**_"

Ron scoffed. "Really? I used ONE ship to kill Sovereign. And I was holding back. We have a fleet of 30000 waiting, and we'll kick your ass, buddy. But in the interest of identifying yourself..."

"_**YOU MAY CALL ME HARBINGER,**_" the voice said. "_**AND YOU FAIL TO UNDERSTAND THAT WHICH IS INFINITELY YOUR GREATER. THOSE YOU KNOW AS 'REAPERS' ARE YOUR SALVATION THROUGH DESTRUCTION.**_"

"And you have just pissed off the wrong nation. The United Federation of Planets will not tolerate you threatening anyone. We'll be here. And we'll be ready."

"_**WE KNOW OF YOU NOW. AND YOU WILL BE SAVED THROUGH YOUR DESTRUCTION.**_"

The link cut out, and Ron stood up. "Open a channel to _Voyager_. The Admiral's going to need to be informed."

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

Takeshi sighed as he sat back in his seat. "Well, that's one fight down," he said. "Something tells me, though, that this is only the beginning."

"Always is," Rina reported. "We're receiving a transmission from Captain Pinkerton. It's important."

"Put him through," Takeshi replied.

Ron's face appeared on the screen. "_Take, we just got a call from a very unwelcome Reaper._"

"Another one?" Takeshi replied. "What did they want?"

"_Just the usual mocking bullshit,_" Ron informed. "'_You killed one of us, but you can't kill all of us', that sort of thing. Used Sovereign's corpse as a booster. We're recovering some of the debris now: hoping we can find the memory core. I'm beaming over to _Voyager _to brief Admiral Tuvok on this… new development. I think you should join me._"

Takeshi nodded. "Understood," he said. "I'll meet you there. _Raging Tempest_ out."

* * *

_**USS **_**Voyager** _**\- briefing room**_

* * *

The table that once served the crew of Voyager during her seven year sojourn through the Delta Quadrant had several people sitting at it: Tuvok at the head of the table, Shon to his left, Ron at his right with Jaden sitting beside Ron and Takeshi beside Shon, and Rear Admiral Lelouch Lamperouge of the _Escalvantine_.

"So…" Lelouch began, "these… Reapers are an ancient machine race that wiped out an ancient civilization 500,000 years ago?"

"More than that," Takeshi replied. "I don't know all the details, but a local archaeologist, Liara T'Soni, is an expert on the Protheans, and according to her, this has happened before. Even she doesn't know how many times it's happened, but civilizations rise, then every 500,000 years, the Reapers show up and destroy them."

"It's almost like they're harvesting us, and this galaxy is the perfect place to do so," Jaden said. "Until Ron and the _Enterprise-B _showed up, the only method of Faster-than-Light was acquired through what we discover from the Mass Relays and the Citadels. Humanity, the Council Races… we all simply assumed they were Prothean relics from when they went extinct. However we now know the Protheans didn't make the Relays, they were just like us - they found them, and presumed they were once constructed by the species who preceded them. All of our technology was branched off of Reaper technology, so that no matter what the Reapers could predict how we would advance, and would be capable of countering whatever we made. You saw how one-sided the fight was with just _one _Reaper against the Citadel Defense forces - it was a slaughter until Starfleet showed up, technology the Reapers have never before encountered. It's the only reason our Ex-Cerberus ships were capable of holding our own against Sovereign at Virmire, with the help of the _Raging Tempest, _and from what TIM's lackeys got from the _B._"

"We also have a slight problem," Ron said. "Another Reaper, Harbinger, just called my ship personally. He knows."

"Knows what?" Tuvok asked.

"About our universe," Ron replied. "There's a few ways he could've found out: Cerberus, any transmissions Sovereign intercepted, or…" Ron's eyes widened. "Oh, fuck."

"What is it?" Takeshi asked, worried.

"Who has been fucking with us since day one? Doing everything they can to destabilize the Milky Way? The Dominion War, the destruction of Romulus, EVERYTHING!"

"The Iconians," Takeshi replied, growling as realization set in. "You think they got in touch with the Reapers?"

"Uhh… Iconians?" Jaden asked, "I… don't think I've read much about them yet. Who are they?"

"The Iconians are an ancient race, with an empire that spanned most of the milky way. Their enemies defeated them, destroying their homeworld, but the Iconians escaped using their gateways." Ron said. "Sort of like our transporters, but on steroids. Walk through a gateway, you'll end up anywhere you want. It's been rumored that they can go through time as well."

"Why would the Reapers work with the Iconians?" Jaden asked, "They've been up in arms against Organics, why make an exception with Iconians? Unless…" he paused for a moment. "Oh shit… could they upgrade Reaper's with Iconian technology?"

"Anything's possible, but I doubt it." Ron said, "The Iconians will manipulate you into doing what they want. They did it to Colonel Hakeev of the Tal Shiar. Right before I helped kill the son of a bitch. They also kidnapped empress Sela of the old Romulan Empire. Much to my eternal gratitude."

"Either way, if the Reapers are working for the Iconians - for whatever reasons, it can't be good." Jaden said, "What do you suggest we do?"

"Defensive positions will have to be established, but the Federation Council will want a more substantial reason to maintain a permanent presence in an alternate universe." The door to the briefing room opened, allowing Van'zyl to enter.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we just received this report from an Asari ship." She said, "They wanted it forwarded to Captain Pinkerton immediately."

"What is it?" Jaden asked.

Ron took the PADD and read the report briefly before passing it to Tuvok and looking at Jaden. "Care to explain?"

"Explain what?" Jaden asked shrugging, having no idea what he was talking about.

"The Asari just developed warp drive, and I haven't opened up my database to ANYONE other than your AI!" Ron said. "So, yes, naturally, suspicion falls to you."

Jaden's eyes narrowed "Lucy would never just give anyone classified information like that away." He said, "The last thing we want to do is cause even _more _trouble with the Federation. And I known TIM would never do that… he may not hate the Asari, but he doesn't trust them worth a damn, he'd never give them a trump card like Warp Drive. Let me see that..."

Tuvok gave Jaden the PADD, as he looked through the contents "It says here the Asari based their design off of early human models…" He muttered, "That's a load of bullshit, the Systems Alliance never had a Warp Program, the closest they had was Slipstream, but even _that _was just theories until TIM revived the program to develop Non-Relay based FTL. "

"Captain Pinkerton was not accusing you of leaking our information to the Asari Republics. He was simply came to a logical conclusion." Tuvok said, "Perhaps the Systems Alliance was developing a subspace program without the Illusive Man's knowledge, however unlikely that may seem."

"I don't know… when Cerberus was a Black-Ops unit, they had access to almost all of the Alliance's R&amp;D." Jaden said, "Warp Drive, or anything involving Subspace Travel without Relays wouldn't be something he'd miss so easily. And if that were true, how would the Asari have gotten their hands on the program without anyone knowing?" He leaned back in his chair, looking at the PADD. "Something smells fishy here…"

"Sometimes the left hand don't know when the right hand is jacking off." Ron suggested, as All eyes turned to him again. "what?! You all know it's true!"

"Black Ops…" Takeshi mused. "Maybe that's it."

"Captain Yamato?" Tuvok asked.

"If the Asari have Warp Drive now, they're no longer under the Prime Directive, right?" Takeshi asked. "So… if it was given to them, the most likely scenario would be a Starfleet Black Ops group, disobeying the Prime Directive, but in a way that's so secretive it might as well not be there, so that the Federation can have more influence in local affairs."

"That's so outlandish, it's not even funny. Starfleet Intelligence knows better than to break the Prime Directive. Hell, we don't HAVE a secret intelligence agency for that exact reason!"

"Correction, you don't have a secret intelligence agency that you _know _of," Jaden suggested, causing the others to look at him. "Groups like the KGB, CIA… they all did their own Black-Ops during the Cold War, however they were all big well known names… wouldn't the best type of Black-Ops Intelligence unit be one that not even most of your government knows about? A group that goes out of its way to ensure its secrecy to protect the Federation at any costs? Even if it meant breaking the Prime Directive? During their early days, no one even knew the Spectre's existed until _many _years later, and even today no one is certain how many active Spectre's there are."

"We will find out where the leak came from, if it exists. Regardless, Captain Pinkerton, you are to head to the world in question and look over this Asari warp ship."

"If any parts came from my ship, I'll be forming a few Lynch mobs."

"Captain Yamato, you will assist him," Tuvok said. "Commander Takeo, I will require any and all information you have on the location of any parts that came from the _Enterprise_-B."

"I'll do what I can," Takeshi replied.

"Will do, though I doubt there will be much," Jaden said, sighing. "Like I said, they scrapped the _Enterprise-B _all the way down to its bones. I've heard rumors that TIM used some of parts for his new Flagship… but I can't be certain. But I'll send you what we've got anyways."

They heard a beep. Then two more. The rest of the galaxy heard a scream. "WHAT THE FUCK?! HE DIES! HE DIES SLOWLY!" Yeah, never piss off a man who could've commanded a ship named _Enterprise_.

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest** _**\- en route to Agressia alongside USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**and ex-CSV **_**Kyoto**

* * *

Takeshi sighed as he steered the ship at Warp Speeds towards Agressia. "Well, this'll be interesting," he mused. "Sent to help evaluate the Asari's first warp ship, and make sure it wasn't made from borrowed parts."

"I'll take care of that, Captain," Matt said. "I know you're more at home steering the ship than helping keep it together."

"Thanks, Matt," Takeshi replied.

"We're approaching the planet, Captain," Kim reported. "_Ra-Cailum_ is dropping out of FTL." The three ship formation, lead by the _Ra-Cailum_, headed toward the planet Agressia, which was used as the Asari's warp program testing ground. "There are two cruisers in orbit."

"They're hailing us," Rina informed.

"Put them through," Takeshi ordered.

The face of an Asari appeared on the screen. "_Captain Yamato. Welcome to Agressia. It's a pleasure to have you here. We were just about to conduct another test flight with _Thessaly _5._"

"A pleasure to be here," Takeshi replied. "And it's good to see the Asari taking a step towards independence from Mass Effect technology."

"_It took us a while to get to actual test flights. Here it goes now._"

The screen returned to normal as a modified Asari fighter left the cruiser, then jumped into warp speed.

"Warp 1.3," Kim reported. "A bit faster than the _Phoenix_."

Takeshi nodded. "Definitely doing well there," he said.

"If one of you could recover the fighter-"

"The Ra-Cailum will handle that. Captain Yamato, Captain Keyes, please talk to the personnel. I'll be back shortly." The Sovereign-class ship jumped to warp to catch up with the fighter. "He's pissed."

"_We've got a lot of unanswered questions here, and the last few months have been rather hectic for all of us._" Jaden said onboard the _Kyoto._ "_Of course he's pissed, hell I'm pretty pissed myself, but I hope to get SOME answers here._"

* * *

**Asari cruiser **_**Macelon**_

* * *

The sight of several Starfleet officers, even if they weren't wearing the proper uniform, beaming in was a bit unnerving. "C-Captain! Welcome aboard! Come right this way! The head of the warp program wants to see all of you!"

"Very well," Takeshi replied. "Lead the way."

"So, when'd the program get started?" The Asari looked at a VERY annoyed Sonja. "It was… about 6 months ago. We've been working non-stop."

Given the conversation earlier aboard the _Voyager_, Takeshi kind of doubted the timeframe, but he wasn't going to argue it here.

"Captain, the _Ra-Cailum_ just returned with the fighter. They're transporting it now." They entered the hangar bay, just as the fighter in question, along with the several personnel from the _Ra-Cailum_, were beamed in.

Takeshi could definitely see design influences from the _Phoenix_, indicating that it was used as something of a base (which gave credence to the theory that information was leaked), but it still had graceful lines that he was associating with Asari design.

Sonja, however, was about to pop several of those theories, however, when she quantum dated the warp nacelles. "Nacelles are well-worn. And old: 5 months, minimum. Local materials only, too."

"Are you sure?"

"DAMN sure. I'm the best engineering officer in the fleet other than Scotty."

"Huh," Takeshi mused. He still thought something was up with the situation, but it looked legit so far.

"M/AM reactor is standard issue, a few modifications… Everything looks normal," Sonja continued. "Seems to be just a case of convergence."

"Where something is invented by two people at the same time without the other knowing?" someone else asked.

"Yeah," Sonja replied. "Seeing a bit of design influence from us, but how often have they looked at our ships in the past month and a half?"

"Quite a lot, likely," Takeshi replied. "Wouldn't be surprised if they decided to take pointers from our designs."

"And those are the only things that are less than two months old. We unintentionally sped up their warp program. Captain, you're going to have to look at the records. If there's a way to prove that these have been faked, it's there."

"Right," Takeshi replied. "Rina?"

"Sure thing, Captain," Rina replied, the Bajoran heading over to a terminal where she could access the records.

"I'm sure you'll find the answers you're looking for, Captain."

"Yes, but we might not like what we see."

* * *

While the RT crew were dealing with the people, Ron, Sonja, and Natarle were dealing with the fighter. "Not a fucking thing is WRONG with this picture! It's like God decided to play tricks on us."

"Not God, Ronnie boy."

All three froze. They KNEW that voice.

They slowly turned around, revealing a man with brown hair and brown eyes, wearing what appeared to be the same uniform they were, with Captain's Rank Insignia.

"Q," Ron growled.

"Such hate. What have I done to warrant it?"

"What HAVEN'T you done?"

The pseudo-god cupped his chin. "Good point."

"What the fuck do you want, Q? I'm not in the mood for your games."

Q chuckled. "Jean-Luc would've figured this out by now."

"Yeah, well, Ron's a bit more like Sisko, than Picard," Natarle remarked with a grin. "Especially in how he deals with you - I still laugh whenever I remember that time he landed one across your jaw."

"I remember. All too well. But your answers aren't going to come from this little fighter. In fact, they won't come from anyone or thing on this ship. Tata, Ronnie bo-" Q screamed as Ron punched him in the face and punted him in the balls.

"DON'T call me 'Ronnie'."

Q disappeared in a flash.

"Something tells me that, if this was leaked, Q somehow altered the materials on the fighter to match their cover story," Natarle remarked, massaging the bridge of her nose.

"No, Q might be a bastard, but he's not that much of a prick."

* * *

Flay Allster giggled like a schoolgirl. '_The one thing they missed, and it's right under their noses._' The mass effect core was still in the fighter. After it had been modified with locally made parts for the warp engines, she altered the ME core to create a time dilation field. She artificially aged the fighter by six months. And because quantum dating only read the age of the object… well… it was foolproof.

She continued eavesdropping, cloaked, nearby, as Natarle asked, "So… it's all looking legit at this point?"

"Unfortunately. Fuck!"

"Not like we can do anything 'bout it, boss. I'll head back to the Ra-Cailum, then introduce myself to engine room hooch." "I think we'll join you." All three officers walked away, heading back to the beam in point.

"Best people in the fleet," Flay remarked. "Well, best REGULARS in the fleet. S31 kicks your ass."

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

"It's all in order?" Takeshi asked.

"Nothing's out of place or suspicious," Rina replied. "It's perfect."

"Huh," Takeshi mused. "Well, something still doesn't seem right, but I guess for now we'll have to accept the fact that the Asari developed Warp Drive on their own, with our only influence being second-hand."

"More like third hand," Matt remarked. "You should see Captain Pinkerton: he puts the raging in this ship's name. That, and he ran into Q on board the Asari ship."

"Q?" Takeshi asked. "Well, that might be an answer to that."

Matt shook his head. "Q doesn't age things to screw with people's heads. He just toys with them by doing childish pranks. This is not childish."

Takeshi nodded. "Right…" he said. "Well, I guess we should get in touch with Admiral Tuvok, see what we want to do next."

* * *

"You're kidding me."

Tuvok's face on the screen was very flat as usual. "_I do not joke, Captain. The Asari have petitioned for Federation membership._"

"Sir, the fighter is still very suspicious. Give us a few more days-"

"_Captain Yamato, we have little time for a full on investigation. I am sending the _Ra-Cailum _to the planet Illium to begin construction of a modified transwarp gate, so we may make contact with Starfleet Command. They will send a proper team._"

Takeshi sighed. "Understood, Admiral," he said. "Where do you want me to go, in the meantime?"

"_You will head to Earth. If the files existed in the first place, they will be there. We do require answers, Captain. Lay the groundwork for the investigative team._"

"Understood, sir," Takeshi replied. "We'll get it done. _Raging Tempest_, out."

* * *

_**Illium**_

* * *

"I hate my life."

"We know, Ron."

The _Ra-Cailum_ and _Crusher_ (being two of the biggest ships in the fleet) were beginning construction of the gateway, and the CO of the former was not pleased. But he had his orders.

"Sir, the Normandy just dropped out of FTL. She's undergoing docking maneuvers, heading right for us."

"Huh," Natarle mused. "Think Shepard wants to talk about something?"

"I'm about to find out."

* * *

The airlock opened, and out came, much to Ron's surprise, Tali. "Tali? The hell?"

"Captain, I have a request to make of you," Tali informed.

"Name it."

"I want you to take me to this system." She handed him a datapad, which Ron examined. "Wait, the Tikkun system is in Geth space."

"I know. It's practically the heart of it. I want you to take me to the Quarian homeworld. To Rennoch."

Natarle, who had come down as well, looked curiously at Tali. "Why do you want to go there?" she asked.

"You're the only ship that can take me to my homeworld. It would be a pilgrimage gift to end all of them: to see the homeworld."

Ron blankly stared at her. "Ok," he said after a moment. "Riza, set course for the relay. Tali's going to give you the coordinates."

"_Got it, oniisama._"

"Thank you again, Captain," Tali said before she headed to the Bridge, and then Shepard and Hitomi walked out of the airlock. "Hey there, Ron," Shepard greeted.

"Sheppy. What exactly are you two here for?"

"Well, we wanted to take care of something before you headed off for Tali's trip and we headed off to hunt more Geth," Hitomi replied. "We're wanting to get married, and we want you to officiate."

The two former drones blinked. "Well… that is within my abilities." Ron tapped his commbadge six times.

"Signalling a general assembly?"

"The system works, Nattie. Get your dress uniforms: I'll get ours."

* * *

_**Earth**_

* * *

The _Raging Tempest_ sat in Earth Orbit, completely invisible due to its Cloaking Device. "Get anything, Rina?" Takeshi asked.

"I'm looking through all of the classified databases, including ones the Illusive Man didn't have his hands on," Rina replied. "So far, nothing. The Alliance isn't going to be happy that we're doing this."

"That's why we're cloaked," Takeshi replied. "And why you're doing the hacking - you're the best computer hacker in the crew."

The console beeped. Rina deflated. "Well…"

"What?"

"I found something."

"What did you find?"

She brought up the file. It was dated as originating 3 years before the discovery of the Prothean archives on Mars, and detailed some of the basics in subspace theory. It was basic to the point where it wouldn't lead anywhere, at least it seemed that way. It did point toward the beginnings of warp travel, but at that point, the file was closed.

"Well, looks like they were telling the truth," Takeshi remarked. "The Asari did start out where the humans in this universe left off."

"It's too perfect, sir," Rina replied. "It's like someone knew we would be looking somewhere the Illusive Man wouldn't."

"You're being paranoid," Takeshi replied. "A bit of it is good, but too much, and you'll end up like the Obsidian Order."

Rina flinched a bit. She might not have been born then, but she'd still heard tales of the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor and of the Obsidian Order. "Yes, sir," she said.

"Well, we might as well go get the news to Admiral Tuvok," Takeshi remarked, as he began steering the ship out of the system.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"I hate weddings."

"Why?"

"I hate weddings."

Sonja, dressed in a brick-red 2278-2350 era uniform, looked at her commanding officer, who was currently trying to make himself drunk. "That's not a reason."

"It IS."

"Human weddings aaare definiitely a bit more elaborrate than onn the Migrrant Fleeet," Tali remarked, her speech semi-slurred, a cup of alcohol in her hands.

Both officers looked at the Quarian. "This isn't going to end well."

"Whaatt? NO. Everything's gooing to be fiinnnee. You've got thiings that'll maake me feel beeetterr in NO time!"

"RIGHT."

"You know what we need? Those replicators of yours."

"Don't have anything like that on the Migrant Fleet, huh?" Sonja asked.

"Nooope. Just hydro… hydro…"

"Hydroponics?"

"That's the word!"

The band started playing another song. One that universally made them groan. "Irving Berlin," Ron said, before all three slammed their heads on the counter, with Tali falling to the deck.

"We… might want to get her to Sickbay," Sonja remarked.

"And escape the wedding."

* * *

Six hours later (and a VERY detoxed Tali) the _Ra-Cailum_ was enroute to Rennoch. "So, anything to expect when we get there?" Ron asked.

"A fuckton of Geth ships?" Natarle guessed.

"That's a good guess," Tali remarked.

"Dropping out of FTL," Riza remarked, as the ship dropped out of warp over the planet Rannoch.

They all had to admit - the planet looked about as beautiful as Earth.

"Alright, start taking pretty pictures, people," Ron said. "The Geth aren't going to like us being here."

"Too late: five ships, dreadnought-class, inbound bearing 154 mark 065, range 2300 kilometers," Corpsa reported, before blinking. "Sir? Their weapons are inactive."

"That seems strange," Tali replied. "They attack anyone who even gets close to the veil."

"Yellow alert, shields up."

"Aye sir," Corpsa replied, before a chime was heard from the console. "Sir? We're being hailed by the lead dreadnought."

"Patch it through."

There was no real visual for the transmission. However, the audio came through just fine, as a (male) mechanical voice said, "_Pinkerton-Captain._"

"…That's new," Ron said. "This is Captain Pinkerton of the _Ra-Cailum_. To whom am I speaking?"

"…_we are Geth,_" was the simple reply.

"Right, I forgot: you're all runtimes with little to no true individuality unless you're in a platform. No offense."

The Geth didn't reply.

"We're just here for a few images of the planet: nothing dangerous."

"_You can do more than that, Pinkerton-Captain._"

"Oh?"

"_We are sending coordinates._" The link cut out.

"Sir… those co-ordinates are for a location on the planet," Corpsa reported. "If I didn't know better, I'd say they just gave us Landing Clearance."

Ron narrowed his eyes. "Remain at yellow alert. Natarle, Tali, follow me: we're going down to the surface."

"Begging the captain's pardon," Natarle began, "but Starfleet code, Section 12, paragraph C-"

"Nattie?"

"Ron?"

"Shut up and get moving."

Natarle nodded. "Alright," she said. "After you, then, Ron."

* * *

The Captain's Yacht was the best craft for the job, and it landed exactly where the Geth told them to land. "Ok, now what?"

"Uh… Ron?"

Several Geth vehicles approached the _Isis_, but no one was shooting.

"Well, this is new. Guess they want to talk."

One of the vehicles had a hatch open, and what looked like a Geth Trooper stepped out and walked up to them. "_Pinkerton-Captain,_" it greeted.

"It SPOKE?"

"Shut up, Tali. you're being rude," Ron said.

"_Creator-Zorah has the right to be surprised, Pinkerton-Captain. No Geth have spoken to organics since the Morning War. We welcome you to Rannoch, and express the wish that you are not the last to visit._"

Natarle blinked. "This… this is new to me," she said. "From what I gathered from Ron about his encounters with the Geth under Saren, they just seemed to want to destroy all organics."

"_You speak of the Heretics,_" the trooper replied.

"Heritics? I thought all the Geth were united."

"Clearly not. Splinter groups aren't that uncommon among artificial lifeforms: even the Borg have… issues."

"_The Heretics follow the path of the Old Machines,_" the trooper informed.

"Old Machines? You're talking about Sovereign and the Reapers."

"_Correct,_" the trooper replied. "_The Heretics wished to follow the path of the Old Machines. The Geth did not. A schism occurred, though peacefully._"

"By that you mean one group of Geth split off from the rest without both groups shooting at each other?" Tali asked.

"_Correct,_" the Trooper replied. "_At the time the Geth did not know the goals of the Old Machines. Goals that go against one of the Geth's highest priorities._" At the group's confused looks, the trooper continued, "_One of the core tenets of present Geth morality is that all sapient species have the right to self-determinate - to choose their own path, their own destiny, their own future. For a race to choose to entrust their path to another, though not often viewed as wise, is not viewed as inherently negative. However, to enforce a future on another race, especially one they do not desire - to forcefully remove another race's right to self-determinate - is viewed as a grievous wrong by the Geth. The Old Machines seek to do this. And the Heretics wish to help the Old Machines in this._"

Ron nodded as he took it in. "The… Heretics broke your version of our Prime Directive," he said.

"_Prime Directive?_" the trooper asked.

"General Order One. We're not allowed to interfere in the development of any society. They have the right to choose their path, whether it leads to them joining the Federation or to isolate themselves or even to commit mass suicide. We can't interfere because we have no right to interfere."

The trooper considered. "_Prime Directive similarities to current Geth morality high,_" it informed. "_Analogy appropriate._"

"Wait, that fleet that attacked the Citadel, and is still out there, is only a FRACTION of the Geth?" Tali asked. "Oh, ancestors, we're doomed."

"It gets worse for the Quarians," Ron added. "The Geth show signs of rudimentary sentience. That means, by our standards, you're alive."

The trooper paused before asking the question. "_Does this unit have a soul?_"

Ron blinked. "Uh… That's getting into metaphysics. But if by soul you mean true consciousness… Maybe. I'd have to spend more time with the Geth to find out."

The trooper paused for a moment. "_This terminal will go with you,_" it said. "_Not only will this allow Pinkerton-Captain to spend more time with Geth, it will also allow us to help fight the Old Machines._"

"Oh, the Admiralty Board is going to LOVE this," Tali muttered.

"You are free to return to Rannoch, Creator-Zorah," the trooper replied. "We only wish to be treated as equals."

"Xen is going to try and either kill you or reprogram you," she said, before turning to Ron. "That… Spending time on your ship, reading about your captain Data has made me think. Take me back to the Migrant Fleet, Captain: I think I'm going to need your help."

"Alright," Ron replied. He then turned to the trooper. "You still going to be able to speak to us?"

"_Indeed,_" the Terminal replied. "_Over 1,183 individual Geth runtimes operating in this terminal._"

"A Roman legion."

"_Legion?_"

"Over a thousand men in the Roman Empire were called a legion."

"There's also that overused quote," Natarle reminded.

"'My name is legion, for we are many'?" Ron asked. "I hate religion when it makes people stupid."

"_We acknowledge this as an appropriate metaphor,_" the trooper replied. "_We shall assume the moniker Legion, a terminal and representative of the True Geth._"

Ron shrugged. "Let's go. I've got a few idiots to beat over the head when we get to the Migrant Fleet."

* * *

_**USS **_**Escalvantine** _**\- Illium orbit**_

* * *

Lelouch stood at the back of the Escalvantine's Bridge once more, watching as his crew prepared for transit.

The reworked Transwarp Gate was ready to go, and the _Escalvantine_ was chosen to make the first trip through, to let the rest of the Federation know the situation that was going on.

"All systems online and ready, Admiral," his Flag Captain, Jeremiah Gottwald, informed. "Energy levels at maximum."

"Then it's time," Lelouch replied. "Activate the transwarp gate."

The hexagon-shaped gate activated, although the tunnel that formed was a pure white rather than the blue-white they were used to.

"Status of the conduit?" Lelouch asked.

"Stable," the Science Officer replied. "Coordinates are locked: Sector 001, coordinates 140 mark 064. Should put us directly in front of Earth Spacedock."

"Hell of a surprise for Admiral Quinn," Lelouch remarked. "Alright, take us in."

The Armatage-Class carrier entered the rift, and the ship began shaking. "Shields are down, and I'm seeing signs of buckling on the starboard nacelle pylon!" his Chief Engineer, Lloyd Asplund, reported.

"The yard dogs can fix it, and the boys at SCE can smooth out the ride for the next trip!" Lelouch replied. "Maintain course!"

The tunnel only lasted a few moments before it spat the _Escalvantine_ out, less than a kilometer from ESD, and right in front of a VERY large Starfleet Armada.

"Perhaps we should have set the portal a bit farther from Earth?" Lelouch's Wing Commander, Kallen Kouzuki, remarked.

"What's done is done, Kallen," Lelouch replied. He then turned to his Comm Officer. "Hail ESD."

"Yes, sir."

The face of Admiral Quinn appeared on the screen. "_Admiral Lamperouge?_" he asked. "_But we thought you were in the Delta Quadrant, looking for the _Ra-Cailum _and _Raging Tempest_. How did you get here?_"

"A bit of a long story, Admiral," Lelouch replied. "If you could give us docking clearance in a repair berth, I'd appreciate it - we experienced a bit of a rough trip through that modified conduit."

"_Understood,_" Quinn replied. "_Clearance granted. Send the data to our boys at the SCE and the Science Council: they might be able to smooth out the return trip, should we decide to go back._"

"I'll see you on the station, Admiral." The screen returned the image of ESD, which was still undergoing heavy repairs because of the Undine attack three months prior. "We might need to go back."

"I'd say that's a definitely, Lelouch," Kallen remarked. "Still, you can give Admiral Quinn the full report, and he'll likely make that same conclusion."

"Agreed," Lelouch replied. "Jeremiah, take us in."

The captain guided the ship into port, escorted by two _Saber_-Class light escorts, guiding the ship into position.

* * *

_**Earth - 6.4 kilometers under Starfleet Command Headquarters**_

* * *

Flay Allster entered the office of her CO, commander of Section 31 in its' entirety. "Admiral. My apologies for being late."

Fleet Admiral Graham simply nodded at her. "It's alright, Lieutenant Allster," he said. "We did send the _Artemisia_ along with the group sent to find you and the _Amenhotep_ \- though the first contact we've had was the _Escalvantine_'s return. So, what news do you have?"

"Only that we have a great deal of work to do… and a fall man to set up, sir." She began to brief him on everything, including the investigation that would eventually reveal S31's existence. That could not be allowed.

"Hmm… the best lies always contain a grain of truth…" Graham mused. "We'll need to find, or fabricate, someone who believes in the ideals of the Federation, but who gets fed up with all the red tape, so he or she decided to take matters into their own hands to allow the Asari the chance to join."

"There are a few people I can think of," Admiral Hayate Yagami, who was in the room as well, informed. "Admiral Lorenz, Rear Admiral Ikari, Commodore Spencer."

"Lorenz and Ikari," Graham replied. "I've been wanting to deal with them for the incident with the changelings."

"They were doing it for the good of the Federation," Hayate reminded.

"They did it without my say-so," Graham informed.

"Right," Hayate replied. "I'll have Nacht set up a Paper Trail. Shouldn't be too hard, what with how overconfident those two usually are."

"There is no need, Admiral." All eyes turned to the men in question: Vice-Admiral Keel Lorenz and Rear Admiral Gendo Ikari.

"How long have YOU been standing there?" Graham asked.

"Long enough," Ikari said. "You've been wanting to hang us for the incident with the Changeling morphogenic virus since the end of the Dominion War. Fine. We'll volunteer for the… mission. For the good of the Federation, of course."

Graham nodded. "Thank you for agreeing," he said. "Hayate, Nacht should still be the one to establish the Paper Trail - it'd likely be too suspicious if Lorenz or Ikari did it themselves."

Hayate nodded. "Not to mention she'll be able to do it without leaving any trace that it was planted," she said. "I'll have her get right on it."

"The _Samshel_ and _Arael_ will be departing in a few hours," Lorenz replied. "I hope you don't need all of their personnel?"

"Handpick the suicidal ones," Graham replied. "I will inform the President of the situation. Flay, I will be informing the head of Starfleet Intelligence-"

"That's technically you-"

"The public one that I'm 'lending' you to her. Make it convincing for all parties involved."

Flay nodded. "Understood, sir," she replied.

* * *

_**Illium - 15 hours later**_

* * *

The arrival of three ships, including the _Escalvantine_, was a welcome sight to all of the Starfleet ships that had gathered to the gate.

"Glad to see we're getting more reinforcements," Takeshi remarked. "Kim, what are the IFF Readings?"

"The _Escalvantine_, the _Kyushu_, and the _Melbourne_," Kim replied. "And according to the signatures, the conduit is stable on both ends. We are free and clear to enter."

"Kyoto _to _Raging Tempest," the Kyoto's Captain informed. "_Captain Yamato, we're going to need you to come back to Agressia. There's something you need to see._"

Takeshi blinked, but nodded. "Understood," he said. "We'll head there ASAP."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"I cannot believe we missed this."

"We only checked the fighter the first time. It's to be expected."

Jaden looked at the Captain and XO of the _Ra-Cailum_. "It's not your fault. You were ordered to check the fighter, and just the fighter."

"Good thing you were more thorough."

The doors to the briefing room opened, allowing Takeshi and Linda to enter.

"What's up, guys?" Takeshi asked. "What did you find?"

"Our ex-Cerberus friends found something we overlooked," Ron said.

"We used the Ra-Cailum's sensors to date the metal in the hangars. We found that some parts of the ship were older than the rest."

"Someone artificially aged that fighter and FUCKED with my head to make me think everything was fine. Price for having a partly positronic brain: you're easy to hack if the right people have the right tool for the job."

Takeshi frowned. "Still, that also implies that whoever did it had clearance from very high up… perhaps this was a Black Op, after all…"

"An illegal one, at that: Starfleet Intelligence would never authorize-"

"_Bridge to Captain Pinkerton._"

"Never lets me finish a sentence. Pinkerton here."

"_Sir, we've just received a hail from _Voyager _to head to Illium and return to our universe through the transwarp gate._"

"Reason?"

"Sir… the President wants to speak to you personally."

Takeshi's eyes widened. "Wow…" he remarked. "That's pretty important. Linda and I should return to our ship - Don't think he wants to talk to both of us."

"_You'd be wrong, Captain: he wants to see you, the boss and Commander Takeo._"

"Better get our asses moving, then, shouldn't we?" Ron asked. "NO ONE refuses a call from the Federation President."

"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "Linda and I will return to our ship and follow you back to Illium."

"Wait, we're going to talk to the President of the Federation? Your commander in chief?"

"Fuck yes. Just don't gawk: he's a Saurian."

* * *

_**Earth - Paris, France, office of the President of the United Federation of Planets**_

* * *

Aennik Okeg sat at his desk, and would be smiling if he could. The two Starfleet Captains had given him an opportunity to do something about Lorenz and Ikari, and Flay was JUST sloppy enough to… implicate them.

"_Mr. President, the men you requested-_"

"Yes, send them in! I've been wanting to speak with them for some time!"

The door opened, allowing Takeshi, Ron, and Jaden to enter the office. "Mr. President," Takeshi greeted.

"Gentlemen, at ease. I've been wanting to speak to you for some time."

"Sir?"

"You are heroes, Captains! Your actions have changed the face of the quadrant. Captain Pinkerton helped in the dissolution of the old Star Empire and the birth of the Republic, helped recover DS9 and made great strides to quelling the Undine threat. Captain Yamato, you and your crew have done much to protect the borders and outposts of the Federation from any that have tried to attack them, be it Klingons, Tal Shiar Remnants, Tholians, or anyone else.

"Thank you, Mr. President," Takeshi replied.

"But today, you've done a better service to us all. you've discovered something that casts a great deal of light on things that have happened over the past century."

"Like?"

"Like the latter half of the Dominion War," a woman wearing an older style Starfleet uniform said as she entered the office.

"Commander Allster," Okeg said.

"Mr. President," the woman replied.

'_Allster?_' Takeshi thought, before looking over at her. She had a major resemblance to Linda, enough to be a sister or something similar, but beyond that… "Do I know you, Commander?" he asked. "You look familiar, but I can't place exactly where."

"There's a reason for that, Takeshi," she replied. "I'm Linda's sister, Flay."

"Huh?"

Ron sighed. "You're an idiot. SI erases the memories of people linked to deep-cover agents."

"Captain Pinkerton's quite right. Harder to be discovered that way. Not that I APPROVE, but if it works-"

"Commander Allster was assigned to investigate certain… elements of Starfleet Intelligence," Okeg interrupted.

Takeshi sighed. Well, he could catch up with his… re-discovered? …sister-in-law later. "Rumors of illegal black ops?" he asked.

"Worse than that," Flay replied. "My investigation led me to discover an organization that has been doing black operations for the past century, since the Tomed Incident."

"That was back in 2311!" Ron exclaimed. "They've been doing this for almost a century and no one noticed?"

"Easy to hide in the paperwork," Flay remarked. "They were responsible for the morphogenic virus that nearly killed the Founders, and for a number of ops that have done a LOT to fuck up potential enemies of the Federation without authorization. They call themselves… Section 31."

Ron, being the expert on the regs, named one off the top of his head. "Article 14, Section 31: In times of emergency, drastic actions are authorized."

Takeshi sighed again. "So, they use that line as their reasoning for doing things outside of Federation law that would protect the Federation?" he asked.

"Yes," Flay replied. "While they've done good, this time, they've stepped over the line. I think they were responsible for sending the _Enterprise_-B into your universe, Commander, and for leaking information to the Asari on creating their warp program."

Jaden cupped his chin. "But the _Ra-Cailum_ and _Raging Tempest_ were the only ships to cross over."

"Not entirely," Flay replied. "I assume you remember the _Amenothep_?"

"One of the newer ships from the yards," Takeshi said. "Supposedly meant to be used for testing a new cloaking device, but was lost during testing."

"She wasn't lost," Flay replied. "The entire crew were members of S31, and they were tracking you. They wanted to keep an eye on you: after all, look at your track records. They ended up in the other universe, and you can guess what happened."

"They made sure the 'information' ended up in the hands of the Asari, altering records as they saw fit," Ron said. "Clever, but they got sloppy. They weren't counting on Jaden here to look into detail!" He patted Jaden on the back, causing him to nervously chuckle.

"My investigation has discovered the ringleaders of S31, as well," Flay replied.

"Who would they be?" Takeshi asked. "I'd rather not let them continue operating unopposed."

"Vice Admiral Keel Lorenz and Rear Admiral Gendo Ikari."

"I have his son on my ship," Ron said. "One of my Peregrine pilots. Good kid."

"And they're on the run: their respective commands, the _Shamshel_ and _Arael_, left earth three weeks ago."

"Those two ships are _Devron_ and _Samson_-class!" Takeshi exclaimed, recognizing them from the listings. "Gonna take a lot of power to bring them down."

"I'm assigning both of you to the task force, along with the _Enterprise_," Okeg informed. "Commander, if you wish, you may send whatever ships you can to join them."

Jaden looked at Flay with a very suspicious eye. '_This is too convenient…_' he thought. '_Right after our investigation starts making progress, she pops up and gives us everything we need practically gift-wrapped. Something isn't right, here..._'

"We'll get back to our ships," Ron said. "What about the Asari?"

"That… is a can of worms, I believe the term is," Okeg said. "The Asari are warp capable, even if they received help, unauthorized or not, from us. Culturally, do you believe they would be capable of joining?"

"They might've developed warp drive on their own just by examining our ships," Ron said with a sigh. "The damage is done. It's up to the Asari. Takeshi, let's get back to our ships."

"Right," Takeshi replied.

Both men left the office, leaving Jaden and Flay with the President. "Commander, I believe you want to speak to commander Takeo."

"You read me well, Mr. President," Flay said, glancing at Jaden. "Let's take a walk."

Jaden's eyes narrowed slightly, however he nodded as he and Flay left the President's office. They walked the halls in silence for about a minute, as Jaden seemed to size Flay up. She obviously was _not_ your standard Starfleet officer, in fact she was beginning to remind him somewhat of a Cerberus agent he had served with several times in the past… and that wasn't entirely comforting.

"You don't seem to like me very much." Flay finally spoke "Not surprising: I give you a lead in your investigation, a link and a name and you're wondering how and why." She stopped to look at him. "Don't deny it: you know I'm right."

"Of course I'm rather… skeptical." Jaden said, "Your timing is to perfect, just as we begin making some headway with this investigating, you just happen to stop by, and give us all this information about 'Section 31' practically giftwrapped. That's either one hell of a coincidence, or fucking bullshit to hide the real picture."

"You're awfully Paranoid." Flay said with a small smirk.

"I use to work with Cerberus." Jaden said, "I've seen the shit they could do with technology your universe considers outdated - of _course _I'm Paranoid."

"So I've seen." She placed a small device on his uniform, and Jaden felt the now-familiar sensation of matter-energy transport. They reappeared in an office, and the first thing he saw was a large plaque, with a black Starfleet emblem and the motto 'Protecting Utopia from the Shadows' under it in gold and red. "Commander Takeo. Welcome to Section 31."

Jaden paused for a moment, before he groaned "Well I certainly hope someone picked up that phone…" he muttered, causing Flay to blink.

"Excuse me?"

"Because I fucking CALLED IT!"

Flay scoffed. "The Admiral's going to want to talk to you. I suggest you hear what he has to say before trying to blow the whistle." Both of them entered the office proper, seeing an old man wearing a black Odyssey standard uniform. "Ah, Commander." He said. "Welcome."

"Commander, Fleet Admiral Graham." Flay said. "The head of Section 31."

Jaden looked at the Admiral with a slightly raised eyebrow "So… you're in charge of the Federation's version of Cerberus during their Black Ops days…" he said, "Well, at least you don't look as creepy as TIM… at least your eyes don't glow neon blue, sitting at an office with the backdrop of a Red Giant star behind ya."

"I prefer to stay close to home," Graham said. "Now, I know what you're going to say: we're hypocrites. We joined Starfleet, vowing to uphold the Prime Directive. Yet, we break our oath. Sometimes that needs to be done. Doesn't mean we're happy with it. Some are. I'm not."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean you have to go all cloak and dagger with this," Jaden said, shrugging. "You know… the Citadel council was already a space-faring civilization, warp drive or no. You could've just shared your most primitive, out-dated warp specs. 'Course - and no offence meant by this - the Federation doesn't seem to like sharing its technology."

"I know," Graham said. "But we like making first contact with warp-capable civilizations: the ones that happen without it are… generally frowned upon. Warp drive gives us a common ground to start with, then we move on to culture, art. To be honest, we wanted to make a few allies over there. Flay and company just… made things a bit more complicated. That plaque over there? I assume you've read it."

"Protecting Utopia from the Shadows," Jaden read out loud, nodding "Yes… its a sound motto. However, you do realize you can't stay hidden forever? It just takes a few slip ups like the ME Core from the Asari Fighter, and people will find out about you… and they may not look at your actions in the same light others would. "

"We know we can't hide forever." Graham said, "Section 31 is supposed to become common knowledge by 2561. But that's a century and a half away. Have you ever seen Starfleet Headquarters?"

"I've seen the pictures," Jaden said. "It's rather nice, great view of the Golden Gate bridge."

"Try picturing it in ruins." Graham said, "That's what happened in 2375, when the Breen attacked Earth. After that, the President authorized us to do whatever was necessary, short of unjustified murder, genocide, and stepping on the rights of our neighbors to keep that from happening again."

"I see… but what if it did?" Jaden asked. "If in order to save the Federation, or even to maintain your own secrecy, you had to murder someone in cold blood, slaughter an entire colony, or subjugate a neighboring lesser-developed species… would you do it? And tell me the truth here Admiral… I've seen the shit Cerberus does, if I'm going to help S31… I want to make sure you won't follow the same path Cerberus took to save _their _idea of a Utopia. Their idea was essentially to hold a gun up to everyone and call it peace and freedom, that's not freedom, that's fear."

Graham leaned back in his chair. "You know… I read those Freelancer files," he said, "Your family had quite a bit to do with that… nasty stuff you went through."

"Yeah. But we compromised," Jaden said. "And in some ways in ways we wouldn't sleep so well. Freelancer may have been taken over by Director Church, but before that everything we did was so people - regardless of what species they were - could be free. Cerberus wanted Fear, not Freedom."

"Section 31 takes the galaxy as it is, not the way we'd like it to be," Graham said. "With factions like the Klingons, Breen, Cardassians, Romulans… not everyone likes the Federation, just like how in your galaxy not everyone likes the Systems Alliance or the Citadel. It is our job to protect it from threats before they can become truly dangerous threats to the Federation. I admit there are some… similarities between us and Cerberus, however…" he leaned forward. "Unlike the Illusive Man, I have standards Commander Takeo. To answer your question… I will be completely honest. For as long as I am director of S31, I have never nor shall I ever order the deaths of innocent civilians en masse, or simply to keep them in line with fear. I have never ordered a massive massacre, or subjugate another species for S31 or the Federation's goals, and I hope that S31 and the Federation will never have to stoop to that low."

Jaden seemed to look at the Admiral, looking for any sign of deceit, but saw none. And something told him that, at the very least, he was an alright person to begin with. Sighing, Jaden nodded. "Alright… as long as we're clear on that," he said. "Though I hope you plan on informing Takeshi and Ron 'bout this as well, they've both probably got their fair share of suspicions, especially with those two Admiral's of yours we need to deal with… though I presume you ordered them to do what they're doing now?"

"Captain Pinkerton has what he refers to as a 'give-a-fuck meter'," Graham said with a small smirk. "I suspect Section 31, in reality, is rather low on that meter. He understands what needs to be done, even if he hates it. Kind of why Jellico hates him so much. Captain Yamato… I am not sure. He has the tendency to be a bit self-righteous at times."

"Maybe, but he gives me the impression of at least being reasonable, and follows the rules," Jaden said. "I believe as long as you tell him the same thing you told me… and maybe his wife, they'll keep quiet about S31's true existence."

"He does have a bit of a point," Flay remarked. "Besides, part of me never liked the fact that we needed to erase their memories of me in the first place…"

"Well, we have two idiots to punish," Graham said. "Very Terran Empire, but it's better for morale if those two die rather than drag out a decade long trial. I suggest heading back to your ship, commander, and… as for the 'we don't like to share' thing?"

"Yeah?" Jaden asked.

"If the Illusive Man could create your ships with out of date technology, imagine the horrors he could create with modern, intact Federation technology," Graham said. "The Prime directive isn't just a yard stick for intergalactic politics. It's a shield, made to protect the more innocent races of the galaxy from two groups of people: themselves… and us. Consider that the next time you think we're being unfair about our technology."

"Believe me, I understand," Jaden said. "In our galaxy, the Salarian's uplifted the Krogan's to fight the Rachni. As much as I respect the Krogan's, doing that caused a lot of problems later on that the Citadel simply wasn't ready to handle… at least not properly, resulting in them creating the Genophage."

"And that is why we have the Prime Directive. At least with the Asari, I assume Flay believed they were ready for… what lays beyond."

"Race that lives for one thousand years? Yeah, I thought they'd be ready. I'll take him to the transporter room: put him back in Paris so our two 'heroes' don't get suspicious of him disappearing and reappearing on his ship."

* * *

_**USS Arael - Dantu sector**_

* * *

The _Devron_ and _Samson_-Class dreadnoughts proceeded under cloak to their promised end. They would meet their doom near the Borg battlezone at Kar'rat, at the hands of a battlegroup led by the _Ra-Cailum_, _Raging Tempest_, _Enterprise_ and at least 6 other ships. The _Arael_, under the command of Keel Lorenz, was slightly ahead of her _Devron_-Class 'sister'.

"Admiral, we're being hailed by the USS _Quran_: Admiral Cain is wanting to speak with you."

Admiral Lorenz rose an eyebrow. "Cain?" He asked, "What the blazes is _she _doing here? And how did she find us?" Lorenz and Gendo knew Rear Admiral Helena Cain rather well. She was a hard, unflinching cold woman, who had done more than a few controversial, unpopular and morally questionable choices in her career, even among Section 31. Even he and Gendo had to… question some of the things she's done. "Put her on."

The front screen then switched to show the bridge of her ship - an _Odyssey-_class superdreadnought. Sitting in the command chair was none other than the Rear Admiral herself. "_Admiral Lorenz… what a surprise to see you here._" She said.

"Cain." Lorenz said, "What are you doing here? Admiral Graham told us only we-"

"_I'm not here under Graham's orders._" Helena said, her face as emotionless as ever. "_I'm here… on my own time. I find it hard to believe that someone like you, Admiral, would so willingly walk to your most certain death at such a crucial time for the Federation, and the galaxy as a whole._"

"Admiral, I do not intend to die so easily."

"_You still intend to die._"

"How did you even find us, Cain? Our cloaking devices-"

"Are useless." Cain interrupted. "They're based off of Klingon designs, which are easy to track if you know how. Mine… isn't."

Lorenz' eyes would have widened, had the VISOR on his face not been there. "What?!"

"Good bye, Lorenz." The attack came so quickly, as the _Quran_ fired its Phasers and Torpedoes, as the _USS Arael _was destroyed instantly, leaving it as a dead hulk. "Now, Admiral Ikari… you will be working for me now, not that idiot Graham."

"_Cain! What the hell are you-_" Ikari began to shout.

"_Its time for a change in management, Gendo,_" Helena said, "_S31 has made one too many mistakes… it's time the Federation took them out of the picture, to be replaced. You're either with me..._" The _Quran's_ weapons immediately targeted Gendo's ship. "_Or against me._"

The Rear Admiral gave up without a fight: the Devron was a heavily armed ship, but against an Odyssey, it was doomed from the beginning. "Where are we going, Admiral?"

"_Ker'rat. Graham wanted to have a battle._" She said, "_He'll get one. But our… traitorous counterparts are going to be eliminated. I want the_ Enterprise, Ra-Cailum, _and_ Raging Tempest _to survive… but they will not be returning victorious._"

"Very well… but still, we are just two… ships…" Whatever Gendo was about to say, before their sensors began to register three more ships, then five more, then ten more… and that wasn't it as more ships began to appear on their sensors. "What the..."

"_It's time for a Revolution, Admiral Ikari._" Cain said, as she finally formed a small smirk. "_A Revolution I fully intend on winning. All we require now is the bait… put the _Arael _in tow. You and my fleet will head for Ker'rat, while I prepare for phase two of our little game._"

"Understood...ma'am." The _Shamshel _entered formation with the fleet, all of them cloaking as one and jumping to warp.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**_**, secondary command ship of Task Force Theta, en route to Kar'rat system**_

* * *

"Why in the holy fuck would those two run to Kar'rat?" Ron asked. "It's practically Borg held space."

"No clue, but we might be able to use the Borg to our… advantage…"

Ron glanced back at Corpsa. "Problem?"

"Yes, sir," she said. "I'm detecting wreckage. It's a _Samson_-Class starship."

Natarle looked at Ron. "Something's very wrong here." She said.

"Hail the _Enterprise_ and the _Kyoto_, and get Takeshi on the line as well."

Takeshi's image appeared on the screen. "_OK, is it me, or is that wreckage one of our targets?_" Takeshi asked.

"Going to have to agree with Captain Yamato: that's clearly the Arael." Natarle said.

"Commander Keyes, thoughts?"

"The _Shamshel_ could've turned on the Arael, unlikely as it seems." Miranda said.

"Looks to be the case," Corpsa said. "Detecting weapons signatures in the debris consistent with Federation phaser technology."

"_But why?_" Jaden asked. "_Why would they just up and turn on one another when they're on the run? They would've stood a much better chance together. And then that brings up the question of where the hell the _Shamshel _went._"

"Run a tachyon sweep," Ron said. "We might be able to find the Shamshel if-" The _Ra-cailum_ shook from weapons fire mid-sentence. "Oh, you have GOT to be fucking-" The _Sovereign_-Class ship rocked again. "Who the fuck is shooting at us?!"

"I think we know this son of a bitch! Romulan warbird, _Khinial_-Class!" The Romulan warbird, based off the _D'Deridex_ but warped to the same degree as the _Narada_, continued to fire on the _Ra-Cailum_.

"_The hell are these guys doing way out here?!_" Jaden shouted, as the _Kyoto's_ weapons came to life, opening fire on the Romulan vessel with Phasers and Broadside Cannons. "_Ron, you alright over there?_"

"We're fine!"

"Shields at 78%!" Corpsa shouted, "Minor damage to the saucer section! And we've got more company: two more ships decloaking! Oh, shit."

"What?"

"Breen attack cruisers, _Chel Grett_-Class, on attack vector for the _Kyoto_!" The two VERY alien-looking warships fired two torpedoes at the _Kyoto_, causing no damage. But that wasn't the purpose of the attack, as what looked like a bluish energy field enveloped the ship, as its engines flickered.

"What the _Hell _was that!" Jaden shouted.

"I don't know - sir we've lost Comm!" An operator shouted, "Hell We've lost Weapons, shields, everything!"

On the Ra-Cailum, Ron winced. "Fuck."

"We didn't think to give them the energy dampening weapon countermeasure because there wasn't a need. We weren't expecting this!"

"Get them off the Kyoto!" The Sovereign-class ship fired on the Breen warships, but the damage was done: the Kyoto was doomed unless they got her the hell out of there.

"Ship decloaking! _Devron_-Class - fuck, it's the _Shamshel_, and she's locking the spinal lance on the _Kyoto_!"

"BEAM THEM THE HELL OUT OF THERE!"

Thankfully - with some help from the _Raging Tempest,_ they managed to beam off the crew of the _Kyoto,_ and just in time as the Spinal lance of the _Shamshel_ opened fire, as the _Kyoto _was hit dead on, the force of the attack actually slicing the vessel in half as it exploded.

"Well, that was violent."

"Goes to show you that they were outgunned from the start."

The _Devron_-Class dreadnought fired on the _Ra-Cailum_, the lance impacting the already strained shields. "49%!"

"Rig up an ionic pulse! Let's see if that weakness is in their cloak!"

The _Ra-Cailum_'s deflector dish flashed for a moment, and the _Shamshel_ began to turn invisible.

"Revenge is best served cold. Quantum Torpedoes, full spread, dispersal pattern Omega!"

A volley of Quantum Torpedoes launched from the _Ra-Cailum_, hitting the unshielded, cloaking _Devron_-Class and shredding it to pieces.

"Goodbye, asshole. Report!"

"The enemy ships dealt a lot of damage to all of our ships." Corpsa said, "The _Kyoto_ was destroyed outright and the _Hercules_ isn't going anywhere. They might've lost the flagship, but they clearly won the battle."

The friendly fleet protectively surrounded the only surviving ex-Cerberus ship that was with them, with the _Enterprise_ providing a large part of the deterrent. "What about the enemy fleet?"

"Recloaking and running."

"This was a fucking trap, and we fell into it. Set course back to Earth!" And at that very moment, the Turbolift opened, as Jaden and Commander Keyes entered the bridge, both of whom looked rather angry.

"Captain… " Jaden said, as calmly as he could. "What… the _Hell_ just happened?"

"You got fucked by a Breen energy dampening weapon." Ron said, "We lost a lost of ships to that thing before we developed a countermeasure during the Dominion War. In fact, I think Takeshi hates it more than I do: the NX USS _Defiant _was lost because of that thing."

"Where the hell did Gendo get THAT kind of firepower from?" Jaden shouted, as Flay also arrived on the bridge. "We were told it was just the two of them! Not an entire fucking fleet!" He was about to turn and shout at Flay… however he stopped as he saw the rather shocked expression she had on her face. "You didn't know?"

"No… " she said, "There… there's no way Gendo or Lorenz could have gathered that much firepower in such a short time… I don't even know where they would've been keeping ships like those! This doesn't make any sense!"

Jaden sighed, before he looked at Ron "Captain… I suggest we speak in private somewhere." He said, "And we might as well get Takeshi and his wife over here as well."

"My ready room. NOW."

* * *

**Earth - Section 31 GHQ**

* * *

The old man in charge of Section 31 looked at the specifications for a new class of ship that he was drawing up for the ex-Cerberus troops. And wincing at the reports from the MACOs again. '_Well, we've been planning on expanding them for years. What the hell._' The MACOs were a small, highly trained and very lethal branch of Starfleet Security, and they even had a few ships under their command. The former Cerberus ships and crews would be a hell of a boon for them, as well as the new, purebred assault ship. And as the MACOs preferred to keep themselves out of the limelight, a minor bit of expansion wouldn't hurt them. The MACOs get more people and better ships outside of light lower-line vessels, the ex-Cerberus personnel are inducted into Starfleet and everything remained at status quo. Everyone wins. Except the enemies of the Federation.

In fact, Field Marshal Mustang - the current man in charge of all MACO Forces - appreciated the upgrade they were about to be receiving, and looked forward with working with Sutura Takeo and the Ex-Cerberus forces. Graham could already see the two working well with one another.

However, as he was doing some finishing touches to a specific part too the specs, he heard a noise causing him to stop and save his work. It was unmistakable, and a few moments later they became louder… the sound of Phaser and Gunfire. '_The Hell?_' he thought as he approached the door. However as he did so, he was immediately greeted by another member of S31, armed with a Phaser Rifle with a shocked expression. "Sir! We're under attack!"

"Shit. Fall back to a more defensible position and get me a weapon!" Graham shouted, "Who the hell decided to start a shooting war at Headquarters?!"

"Sir, I-" A bolt hit the man in the back, and judging from the burn on the poor bastard's back when he fell, the phaser was only a setting below the lowest one for vaporization.

"Admiral Graham." A voice, one sounding filtered through a speaker spoke, as Graham turned to the source of the blast. An armored figure wearing complete black armor with dark sage green trimming, a dark green X over his helmet, which had no visible visor, and currently wielding a rather large weapon pointed at him. "You'll be coming with me."

"Locus," Graham growled out. "Cain's pet. So I see she's finally lost her temper. 21st century bitch."

"The Admiral doesn't want you dead, Graham," Locus said. "Stand down, and you'll live to serve as an advisor."

"Really? I doubt it," Graham said. "She's a relic of the Third World War: why the hell Lorenz decided to revive her from stasis is beyond me!"

"The Admiral has ordered me to take you in," Locus said. "My orders say to take you in alive if at all possible… but if you resist, she says to use… appropriate measures." There was then an explosion, as the Director looked down the second hallway, as S31 personnel opened fire down the hall, only for their bodies to go flying from several explosions. Walking down the hallway, over the dead S31 members was another armored figure - in contrast with Locus, his visor surrounded most of his head, with almost all white armor, and wielding a rather large rifle with a knife-sharp edge. "But my… associate here, doesn't have those same orders."

"Go to hell."

"We already are, Admiral." He opened fire, but the old man wasn't that slow, and managed to dodge the first shot, returning fire with a discarded phaser rifle. And as Locus was a semi-sentimental idiot that used the first series of prototype personal shields, the bolt breached it with two shots, and the assassin was knocked on his ass with the third. This began a long and VERY tiring chase throughout the facility.

"Director!" A voice shouted, as Graham turned, seeing a group of S31 Guards come around a corner, who opened fire on Locus and his associate. "We'll hold them off! They've disabled the transporter, but the escape shuttle is ready! Go!"

Graham nodded his thanks, and headed to the escape shuttle. On his way, he tapped his commbadge. "Hayate, are you there?"

"_Good to hear your voice, Uncle Gil!_" Hayate replied. "_Looks like Cain finally snapped - I'm on the _Wolfram _in orbit, but I've sent my best to help you get to safety._"

"Good work!" Graham replied. "As soon as I'm on board, get in contact with Commander Takeo! I want to speak with him, Captain Yamato and Pinkerton as soon as possible!"

A phaser bolt narrowly missed Graham's head. Locus appeared to be VERY pissed off.

However, before he could take another shot, the wall next to Locus shattered into pieces, as a massive warhammer slammed into his gut and sent him flying. It was somewhat comical, primarily because of three things: First, the head of the warhammer was about twice as wide and tall as a human head, rectangular, and about twice as long as it was wide and tall. Second, combined with the haft, the whole hammer was about as tall as the ceiling was high.

And third… this humongous hammer was wielded by a _**female Tellarite**_, with red hair. As Locus stood up again, the Tellarite primed her hammer.

"That all ya got?" she taunted. "I've seen Betazoids take that hit better than you did!"

As the insanity seemed to be getting to Locus, Graham finally got to the hangar bay. "Get this thing in the air, now!" A phaser beam grazed his side, and the Old Man of Section 31 hit the hatch head first. '_Immense pain, blood loss and a numbing sensation. Yup, that phaser was set to kill,_' Graham thought.

"Admiral!" The pilot rushed from the seat and dragged the old man in, the shuttle's shields absorbing the rifle fire with ease.

Locus' associate lumbered into view at this time, but he was facing off against a male Caitian with dark fur. Surprisingly, the Caitian wasn't using a weapon - and was holding off the knife/rifle's strikes by pure physical strength.

Another figure leapt into the fray against Locus and the unknown - a female Vulcan with pink hair, wielding a european longsword with incredible skill.

Taking advantage of the enemy's attention being distracted, a blonde Betazoid female made it to the shuttle, and began tending to Graham's wounds. "Get us in the air and moving to the _Wolfram_, pilot!" she told him.

* * *

**USS **_**Ra-cailum**_

* * *

To say the commanding officer of the _Ra-Cailum_ was unhappy would be an understatement. After all, Ron had his compression rifle pointed in Flay's face. At maximum. "I do NOT like being fucked with, Commander!" Ron shouted, "Now you either give me a straight answer or Takeshi's family be damned I will fucking KILL you!"

"Ron, first off - calm down!" Jaden said. "She can explain, but PLEASE just put the damn gun down!" He glanced with Flay with a bit of a nervous smile. "Well I think you and Graham underestimated Ron's 'Give a Fuck' meter for S31."

Flay shot Jaden a short glare (even though she was slightly amused by it) before she sighed. "Alright… Captain, here is the full story," she said. "Section 31 exists… but they are not a rogue element of Starfleet that was controlled by Gendo and Lorenz. They are Starfleet's Intelligence force who answer only to the President… our goal is, as our motto says, 'To protect Utopia from the Shadows'. Very few people know of our existence, and we have to do some… morally grey things to ensure the Federation's citizens remain safe. To prevent what happened during the Dominion War from ever happening again."

"From what she told me, Gendo and Lorenz volunteered to act as scapegoats," Jaden said. "Give a reason for the Asari's Warp Drive capability when we found out about what they did. We'd kill them, and as far as the public was concerned, S31 would die there, when in truth S31 would continue what they've been doing."

Ron was still pissed off, but he lowered his weapon, but not before clubbing her over the head with it. "That's for hacking into my head and making me think nothing was wrong, you bitch."

"What the hell is he talking about?" Jaden asked, as he helped Flay back to her feet, still holding a hand to her head were Ron had hit her.

Natarle, sitting off to the side, sighed. "The Borg removed one of the lobes of his brain and replaced it with a positronic computer based off of a Soong-type android." She said, "And you can guess what that means."

"His brain can be hacked…" Jaden muttered, glancing at Flay "Is that true?"

"Yes… it had to be done." She said, wincing a bit as she noticed a trail of blood coming from her head. "Section 31's secrecy had to be maintained, and I did what I had to do… but I… underestimated how far you, Ron and your engineers would go to uncover the truth behind the Asari's warp program."

"Well, is there anything ELSE we need to know?!" Ron shouted. "What other lies did you put in our heads?"

"We do what we have to!" Flay shouted back. "That doesn't mean we LIKE it. And as for who could have done this... The only person I can think of is Admiral Cain."

"I know her: grade-A bitch," Ron muttered. "Almost like she's a-"

"World War III relic?" Flay finished, nodding. "She is: we found a DY-350 sleeper ship that crashed into an asteroid. We just didn't realize she was THIS power hungry."

"This is bad," Takeshi remarked, having beamed over along with Linda. "And I think I know what happened to the _Arael_ \- Cain commands the _Quran_, right? _Odyssey_-Class?"

"The most powerful ship ever built by Starfleet." Ron muttered. "Fucking bitch could take out anything short of another Oddy: a Samson wouldn't stand a chance in hell."

"The problem with it is Cain would've bided her time: she's been waiting for years," Flay said. "She could've waited a few more. Why start an open war now?"

"_Bridge to Captain: we're being hailed by the _Wolfram," Corpsa reported from the Bridge. "_Admiral Yagami wants to speak with you._"

"Hayate?" Flay asked. "Something's definitely up - Hayate Yagami is Graham's adopted niece and protege. I've even heard he's been training her as a successor for when the time finally comes for him to retire."

"Meaning if she's calling, it's gotta be important," Takeshi remarked.

"Patch it through down here, and activate the holo-communicator."

"_Aye, sir._"

The image of the Admiral in question appeared while Jaden gave Ron another 'are you fucking kidding me, you have this too?' look.

"Admiral Yagami," Ron said. "With all due respect, what the fuck do you want?"

"_Ah, good, you're all here, even Commander Allster,_" Hayate said. "_Flay, have they all been informed of the situation?_"

"Yes, Ma'am, only seconds ago," Flay replied.

"_Good, means I don't need to hide anything,_" Hayate informed. "_Less than an hour ago, Cain sent forces to Section 31 HQ in order to kidnap Admiral Graham._" At Flay's shocked look, she continued, "_Gil made it up to my ship, but he was grazed by a phaser set on kill, so my Chief Medical Officer is taking care of him right now - he's not in mortal danger according to her, but he isn't in the best of shape, either._"

"How many troops did Cain send?" Takeshi asked, even as Linda wrapped an arm comfortingly around Flay's shoulders.

"_Just two,_" Hayate replied. "_Her personal pet, Locus, and some armored soldier that my subordinates tell me was inordinately strong, and wielding some sort of weird knife/rifle hybrid._"

Upon mentioning that, Jaden's head shot up "Knifle?" he muttered. "Was he wearing white armor, with a helmet with a gold visor almost completely surrounding it?"

Hayate blinked, but nodded. "_Uhh… yeah, he was,_" she said, before Jaden let out a groan.

"Oh son of a bitch… Maine."

Everyone else rose an eyebrow. "Maine?" Ron asked. "Someone you know?"

"Agent Maine, or 'The Meta' as some call him, was one of Freelancer's top agents," Jaden said. "Enhanced strength, aggression… after he lost his voice in a firefight, he was dependent on the AI Sigma to communicate. But the AI managed to overpower Maine, and Sigma uses him in his attempt to reach AI Metastability."

"How tough is he?" Ron asked.

"Remember Tex?"

"The girl who kicked C-Sec's asses? yeah."

"Well, the Meta is like eight of her, only with zero morals outside of 'follow orders'," Jaden said. "He's almost like an Animal, but Cerberus still uses him… meaning Cain is working with Cerberus now. And if Maine is with her, that means the other Freelancer agents who didn't go rogue after we left are probably involved as well."

"_I see…_" Hayate remarked. "_Most troubling… anyway, did Cain interfere there, too, or did things go as planned._"

"Cain interfered out here, too," Flay reported. "She presumably destroyed the _Arael_, and convinced Gendo to work with a fleet she'd gathered, including some Breen ships. We destroyed him, but they took out one of the ex-Cerberus ships, the _Kyoto,_ though we were able to evacuate everyone."

Hayate frowned. "_I'm taking charge of Section 31 until Admiral Graham is recovered,_" she said. "_And I'm listing Cain as a rogue operative, with shoot-on-sight orders - she crossed the line today, and we can't let her continue._"

Takeshi nodded. "I can understand why your organization does what it does, but Cain's completely nuts," he said. "Throwing her in prison would only cause problems later on."

"Send us everything you have on this bitch: historical files, medical records," Ron said. "Leave nothing out, Admiral. Or by God, there will be a fucking reckoning."

"_Don't worry, you'll get everything,_" Hayate informed. "_Flay, I'm assigning you to Task Force Theta - I want you to work with them directly to bring Cain down. After that, you'll be assigned to work directly with Commander Takeo - coordinate his operations with ours._"

Flay nodded. "Understood," she said.

"_Good hunting to you all. Yagami out._" And with that, the transmission ended, with Hayate's image disappearing.

"I'm going to rip Cain's throat out." Ron growled out. "Getting sent on a wild goose chase? I can tolerate that. Getting sent on a wild goose chase, lose a ship and learning I've been fucked with? Not happening."

"_Captain, we're receiving another transmission: it's on all channels._"

"We're on our way," Ron said, as they left the Ready room, and headed onto the bridge. Upon entering, the front screen displayed the image of a woman wearing a Starfleet uniform, whom Flay immediately recognized as her eyes narrowed. "Cain…

"_People of the United Federation of Planets… my name is Rear Admiral Helena Cain, Commander of the USS _Quran _of the 62nd Fleet_," Cain said. "_Throughout my career… I have always remained loyal to the ideas and principles of the Federation. I believe it to be the Utopia that not just humanity, but all of the galaxy needs. However… there is a snake among us, a group who has gone unchecked, and may one day threaten the very foundation of our Utopia… this group is known as Section 31._"

Flay's eyes, as well as the eyes of many others on the bridge, widened at that. "Oh no… she's not really…" she muttered.

"_You may have already heard of Section 31… the President announced the existence of a 'Rogue Faction' lead by Admirals Gendo Ikari and Keel Lorenz who revealed their involvement in the Warp program devised by the Asrai - one of the species native to the alternate universe recently discovered by the Federation. However this is hardly scratching the surface of what S31 truly is. Gendo and Keel were just part of S31, as this group has been part of the Federation ever since its founding. Claiming to be protecting us, but they have broken multiple Federation laws - including the Prime Directive - on several occasions._"

"_Many of you may not believe me… which is why I am currently releasing the names of all Section 31 Members that I have learned over the years I've served._" She continued, as a list of names began scrolling on the screen. "_And I am unveiling numerous records from Section 31, including details about their operations which goes against several treaties signed with other member worlds and allies, as proof of their existence and their deeds. I do this so the Federation can be saved from this curse, and I ask of you - the people of the Federation - to help me bring Section 31 to justice once and for all, and avoid another war like the Dominion War from happening again due to their 'interventions'. And I ask for the brave men and women of Starfleet, if you see S31 the way I see them, and feel the same way that I feel, I wish for you to join me in hunting down Section 31's personnel one by one, and to destroy their operations across Federation space!_"

Takeshi scowled. "Great, she's basically thrown them all into the open, and painted them as evil," he growled. "Definitely a manipulative bitch."

Flay just stood there, eyes wide, even as she saw her own name cross the screen.

"Corpsa, trace that transmission," Ron growled out before he shouted "FIND HER!"

"Aye, sir!" Ron walked toward his chair, only to pause when the comm beeped. "Sickbay to bridge. Boss, I think there's something you need to see." He took in a breath. "Come on. Let's find out what Rutia has."

"Right," Jaden said, but before he moved he turned to Flay, whose wide eyes were still watching the screen in shock. "Flay…" he said, but she didn't respond at first. "Flay!"

This finally caught her attention as she finally tore her eyes away from the screen "Wha… what?" She asked.

"Come on, Rutia has something we need to see at Sickbay." Jaden said, nodding his head towards the turbolift.

* * *

All of them entered sickbay, seeing Rutia in a 2366-71 uniform and a blue overcoat. "Changed your uniform?"

"Doctor Crusher was a bit of an inspiration." Rutia said with a shrug, "Take a look at this." She pulled up a file. "These are brainwave scans of the queen bitch that Admiral Yagami sent over. Look familiar to any of you?"

Jaden took a look at them. "Actually… they kinda look… like…" he began to say, before his eyes widened slightly. "Saren's… oh shit…"

"Fucking bitch is indoctrinated?" Ron asked. "How the fuck did that happen?"

"Historical files show that she always carried some trinket with her at all times during WW3." She pulled up the file, and the image clearly showed something not of Earth origin around her neck. Or native universe origin.

"It looks like a Reaper artifact… only way smaller," Jaden said, before he sighed. "Well… if the _Enterprise-B _could end up in our universe, its not impossible to believe something from our universe ended up in yours somehow."

"This was taken four centuries ago," Rutia said. "How the hell did that end up here?"

"The same way the B ended up in their universe: inter-universal time travel."

Jaden blinked "Huh?"

"Commander Takeo, how much do you know about time travel?"

"Only that it's impossible and…" he looked at Ron, before he noticed the gleam in his eye and groaned. "Oh for the love of… You've got fucking TIME TRAVEL, TOO?!"

"Yup. and the first ship to do it successfully was-"

"The fucking _Enterprise_! Is there anything that ship HASN'T done first?!"

"It didn't discover the Bajoran wormhole and didn't get sent into the Delta Quadrant. It's likely the B ended up going back in time first, then into the alternate universe-"

"Almost like the _Enterprise_-C…"

All eyes turned to Flay. "Commander. Explain. Now."

"Most people don't realize it, but the _Enterprise_-C also time-traveled," Flay said. "While records are sketchy, what we know is that the Enterprise-C took a torpedo hit during the Narendra battle, and then almost immediately the crew numbers reduced drastically, with Captain Rachel Garrett missing, and the ship's helmsman in charge. It's believed that they traveled to the future, because their new Tactical Officer technically hadn't been born yet, and that they visited an alternate timeline because in this timeline, said Tactical Officer died in 2364, with no possible way of having it be a time-travel incident mistaken as a death."

"Who was the officer?" Takeshi asked.

"Lieutenant Tasha Yar, who was chief of security on the _Enterprise_-D at the time of her death," Flay informed. "The alternate Tasha, from what we can gather, was captured by the Romulans, and one of the Romulans took her as a consort. She tried escaping, but her young daughter, who she'd tried taking with her, gave her position away, and she was captured and killed. The daughter survived, though, and actually became quite famous, not just in the Star Empire, but the rest of the galaxy."

"Really?" Linda asked. "Who?"

Flay sent an amused smirk at Ron. "He should know," she said. "She had quite the crush on him."

"Oh, God. Sela." Ron walked out of sickbay before the sound of vomiting was heard. "DAMN IT, CAPTAIN!"

"Ok, moving on." Rutia said, "A Reaper artifact ended up in our universe, on Earth. If a simple trinket could end up here… maybe something else did, too."

"You mean something like a full-scale Reaper?" Jaden asked.

"Only one way to find out. as soon as the boss stops puking, we're going to find that bitch and we're going to put her down." Another retch was heard. "THAT'S NEVER COMING OUT!"

* * *

_**USS **_**Wolfram**

* * *

Hayate sat in her ready room, thinking over what to do next. The ship currently sat under cloak, the rest of her personal task group cloaked and hiding nearby.

"It took a fair bit of doing, but we've narrowed Cain's location down to the Defera sector, Admiral. The _Quran_ is in high orbit of the planetoid the Breen were using for dilithium mining operations," her XO said.

"Until the _Raging Tempest_ ruined their day," Hayate replied. "Contact Task force Theta, and bring us in for a closer look." The XO left the ready room, and Hayate looked over the specs of the _Odyssey_-Class once again. Without a fleet, cracking it was going to be difficult. '_Best to keep trying._'

* * *

The _Wolfram_ arrived in the system 15 hours later, and in orbit were the _Quran_ and a sizable fleet of ships: all of non-Starfleet build. One of them stood out, however.

"That looks like that Reaper from Flay's report," Hayate muttered.

"The vessel is 95% identical to the 'Reaper' Sovereign, with minor details. however, the vessel has been… upgraded."

"Upgraded?"

"Low-powered deflector shields, the main weapon has been converted into a direct-energy beam array. The vessel is a match for an _Ambassador_-Class starship."

"This is not good," Hayate remarked. "Inform the _Arthra_ that we may have need of the _Susanoo_ cannon."

"Understood," her Comm Officer said.

"The Reaper has been heavily reinforced," the operator said. "It appears to have taken a great deal of battle damage, and… Admiral, the weapons signatures are Starfleet."

"What?"

"The patterns are quite clear. And they match one ship in particular."

"What?" Hayate asked, though she had a rather good idea…

"_Excelsior_-Class. Registry NCC-1701-B." The _Enterprise_-B fought the Reaper.

"So… now we know the whole tale of what happened to the _Enterprise_-B," Hayate remarked. "Let's make sure it doesn't indoctrinate anyone else."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

The fleet were charging into Deferian space at maximum warp, led by the _Enterprise_-F, with the _Ra-Cailum_ trailing behind by only 300 meters. "The _Wolfram_ has confirmed the presence of the _Quran_ and a small fleet of ships, likely rogue operatives of Section 31," Ron said. "The _Enterprise_, _Ra-Cailum_ and _Raging Tempest_ will have to handle the _Quran_, Captain."

On screen, the Andorian captain of the _Enterprise_ was forced to agree. "_Three targets will make this easier. Anything else?_"

"Reports that a Reaper was sighted with the fleet. We're going to have a bit of fun with this one."

"_Agreed,_" Takeshi replied. "_Not to mention the odds that anyone who's part of that fleet are Indoctrinated just jumped considerably._"

"_Commander Takeo, I'd like to know your thoughts on this matter,_" Shon said. "_We ARE fighting something from your universe, after all._"

"Normally, I'd say you'd have no problem with your tech," Jaden said. "Sovereign was very powerful, but even it couldn't amount to the firepower brought against it during the Battle for the Citadel. If it was an ordinary reaper that would remain the same… however it's obvious that this Reaper has received upgrades to keep up with the standards of this universe's technology tree…"

"Element zero doesn't have the same power output our ships do." Ron said, "Upgrades or not, we'll kill the damn thing. Come hell or high water." He looked to Corpsa. "Battle stations. Sound the alert." The bridge darkened, and the red lights went off, as well as alarms. "We march to war."

* * *

_**USS **_**Quran**

* * *

"I certainly hope you're ready," Cain said, as before her was the crimson red hologram of the very Reaper outside with her fleet. "It will only be a matter of time before someone finds us here."

"_**WE SHALL NOT DWELL HERE FOR LONG,**_" The Reaper said in their all-too familiar tone. "_**I INTEND TO FULLY UPHOLD THE DEBT I OWE YOU, CAIN.**_"

Cain smirked slightly "I simply did what Starfleet always does - help those in need," she said. "You were damaged, and we repaired you, and made you better than ever. And your… indoctrination technology has more than helped weed out any traitors among the fleet… and bring them to our cause. Section 31 will soon be a thing of the past."

"_**ONCE I RETURN TO MY KIND, MY UPGRADES WILL BE INTEGRATED ACROSS THE REAPER FLEET,**_" the Reaper said. "_**IT MAY DELAY OUR ARRIVAL TO THE GALAXY YOU HAVE MADE CONTACT WITH, BUT THE END RESULT WILL BE THE SAME. THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN, AND YOU AND THOSE LOYAL TO YOU, CAIN, SHALL ACHIEVE THE SAME ASCENSION I HAVE. **_"

"Admiral! We have a fleet inbound on sensors!" Another crewman shouted, "Three ships confirmed: _Raging Tempest, Ra-Cailum_ and _Enterprise_, along with a large part of Task Force Omega!"

"The Klingons and romulans don't want us to destroy Section 31?" Cain asked in confusion, "That doesn't make any sense. We're HELPING them."

"Ships are dropping out of warp now!" A few moments after that was said, the _Raging Tempest, Ra-Cailum _and _Enterprise_ dropped out, shortly behind them was the Ex-Cerberus vessel _Hercules_ now repaired from the battle with Gendo, and an _Ambassador-_class, a _Constitution-_class, and a _Nebula-_class.

"Shon, Yamato, and Pinkerton." Cain muttered, "Why can't you UNDERSTAND?!"

"Quran_, this is the _Enterprise," Shon informed. "_We know what you're really planning to do, and we cannot let you do it. Stand down and prepare to be boarded._"

"_**DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM, CAIN,**_" the Reaper said. "_**YOU ARE DOING THE RIGHT THING. WE MUST GO.**_"

"Activate the deflector!" Cain ordered "We need to get into the other universe! Prepare the fleet!"

"Ma'am, we've got additional ships appearing on sensors!" The sensors officer announced. "Identifying… twenty two ships! I'm getting Transponders from Admiral Greenlaw's 9th Fleet!"

A few moments after that announcement, there was a voice on the comm's "_This is Vice Admiral Andrew Greenlaw, of the Anti-Section 31 Task Force._" A voice called out, "_I am ordering Task Force Omega to stand down, and to turn over any members of Section 31 among your crews! Failure to comply will result in us using lethal force!_"

"_This is Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the _Ra-Cailum," Ron said over the comms. "_Admiral Cain is attempting to assist a galaxy-ending force and is using Section 31 as an excuse! See reason, damn it! Cain is trying to KILL US ALL!_"

"_Admiral Cain has exposed an organization embedded deep within the Federation that has broken the Prime Directive several times, and has gone unpunished!_" Admiral Greenlaw announced. "_The President has officially disavowed Section 31. Now I am ordering you as your superior officer to STAND DOWN._"

"My orders come from the President himself!" Ron shouted,"Either you stand down, Admiral, or consider yourself a rogue entity to Starfleet!"

"Don't listen to him Admiral, this must be done." Cain said, "Captain Pinkerton and his associates are trying to protect members of S31 onboard their ships. This must be done to save the Federation before S31 kills it from the inside."

"_We know, and we understand._" Greenlaw said, as their vessels dropped out of warp, as twenty two vessels appeared from warp, escort vessels, cruisers and battleships all surrounding a single _Galaxy-_class Heavy Cruiser, the USS _Alexandria._ "_All ships, support Rear Admiral Cain's fleet! Shoot to kill!_"

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

The last time Starfleet ships were shooting at Starfleet ships was back in 2372, when the _Lakota_ tried to stop the _Defiant_. This was not going to end as bloodlessly.

"Tholra, I want the cannons on Scatter Volley Mode," Takeshi ordered as he vectored in on the _Alexandria_'s fleet. "We do one pass on the _Alexandria_'s group, then go after the Reaper. No matter what, that thing cannot make it back to its home universe to pass on its upgrades to the other Reapers."

"Understood, Captain," Tholra replied.

Takeshi opened up with the cannons, a cone of fire hitting all the ships of the Anti-Section-31 Taskforce as the _Raging Tempest_ flew straight down the middle at high speed. Most of the ships simply lost shield strength, though some of the _Saber_-Class variants took hull hits, and a pair of Mirandas actually took critical damage and exploded before the _Sao Paulo_-Class ship shot out the other end, before adjusting course to attack the Reaper.

The Reaper, however, survived the attack due to the upgrades, and charged at the second largest ship in the fleet: the _Ra-Cailum_. It appeared that the Reaper was NOT happy with Ron for killing Sovereign.

"Sir, the _Alexandria_ is targeting us!" Kim reported.

"Much as I don't want to do this, they're leaving us no choice," Takeshi remarked. "Tholra, Rapid Fire Mode on the cannons, and ready a volley of Quantum Torpedoes, Maximum Yield."

"Aye, Captain," Tholra replied as Takeshi angled in on the _Galaxy_-Class vessel.

The cannons fired off a massive volley of bolts, tearing holes in the _Alexandria_'s shields and blasting into the hull, before four Quantum Torpedoes flew through those same holes, the first slamming into the underside of the saucer, hitting the Captain's Yacht, the second hitting the neck of the ship, the third blasting a hole in the main deflector, and the fourth flying through that hole… to hit the Warp Core.

The _Galaxy_-class ship exploded much like her elder sister, the _Enterprise_-D. There was no cheering from the crew. This was simple blue on blue: they knew everyone they were killing.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"There are days I HATE these idiots!" Ron shouted, "Jaden, how's your piloting abilities?"

"One of the best actually," Jaden said. "Shuttles, Dropships, Mechs, Fighters, even starships. Give me a minute or two to familiarize myself with the controls and I can pilot it easy. Why?"

"Your ass, shuttlebay one, NOW! There's a flight of Peregrines down there waiting for a commander! GO!" Before Jaden left the bridge, Ron cast a glare at Flay. "YOU, with him, NOW! Peregrines are twin-seaters!"

"R-Right," Flay said, not wanting to anger the Captain any more than she already had in the last few days as she followed Jaden towards the lift.

"I assume you know how to command a squadron of fighters?" Flay asked.

"Oh, yeah." Jaden said nodding, "Had to do it a few times in the past." The two entered the lift, and down they went, arriving in the bay a moment later. "Never flown one of these 'Peregrines' before… should be interesting at the very least."

Flay ran toward one of the craft he saw earlier, climbing into the co-pilot's seat. "Starfleet actually had two roles for these things when they were designed, you know."

"Yeah? What were they?" Jaden asked as he closed the door, and took a seat next to Flay before he began working with the controls.

"They were maneuverable enough to be used as fighters, which was a good idea at the time they were designed: we just made first contact with the Cardassians, who were rather… violent." She said. "Another role, the one they were used in the most, was an armed light courier. Kind of ironic, seeing as the Bf 109 was called a 'courier' plane early in its' career."

Jaden chuckled a bit. "Yeah, and it looks like the Federation relearned the same lesson from WWII in the pacific." he said. "Big ships are fine, but Fighters and Bombers could easily change the tide of a battle. As much as I love old WWII battleships like the _Yamato,_ it was brought down by fast moving dive-bombers. In fact during the First Contact War, the Turians never developed a carrier-type vessel until the Alliance first used them to deploy swarms of fighters, bombers and interceptors, playing a key role in their defeat. Since then, the Turians have been making Carriers, and the Alliance has been constructing more Carriers as much as they could."

Flay rose an eyebrow at that. "Doesn't the Farixen Treaty prevent that?" She asked, but Jaden chuckled.

"Like I said, the council had never imagined the existence of Carriers before," he said, as the Peregrine powered up, "The Treaty only identified Dreadnought-type vessels at a ratio of 5:3:1, meaning for every five Dreadnoughts the Turians have, the Asari and Salarians are allowed three, and all other council races are allowed one. However, the construction of carriers are not included in the treaty, so there were no legal limits upon building any number of carriers for any race. And the System's Alliance has exploited the hell out of that weakness. They have about as many carriers as the Turian's have Dreadnoughts."

He then activated the Comm. "Alright people, let's get going here!" he said. "Ron's given me command of your squadron, and considering just how crazy the rest of the _Ra-Cailum's_ crew is, I expect just as much crazy from you!"

"_Edge, copy. I'll be your number two, Commander._"

"_Berserker here, uh, Commander Takeo?_"

"_Shinji, relax!_"

"_This is Pinkerton! All fighters, get the hell out there!_" The bay doors opened, and the 50 or so Peregrines launched out from the bay, followed by the nearly 70 from the secondary bay, plus a modified Geth fighter.

"That's a lot of fighters." Jaden muttered.

"If you think THAT'S a lot, try serving on an Atrox," Flay said. "Those things can carry THOUSANDS of Stalker fighters, plus whatever else they're carrying at the time." The fighter banked, allowing them a hell of a view of the Reaper engaging the _Ra-Cailum_.

"This should be interesting…" Jaden muttered, before he banked the Fighter right to avoid being shot by an enemy Peregrine Fighter. "Alright, let's keep the small fries off of the _Ra Cailum!_"

This would be known as the first shots in the Reaper war, and would be known as the Battle of Hannibal to later generations.

* * *

_**USS **_**Enterprise**_**-F**_

* * *

The _Quran_ was a bit of a problem, but seeing as they had a large number of ships to keep the massive enemy fleet off their asses, the _Enterprise_ had a chance to prove that she was better than her sister in combat. '_I just wish it was on friendlier terms._' The _Chang_ and _Eofelius_ were keeping the fighters launched from the only two carriers in the fleet - both _Akira_-Class - from doing anything to the _Enterprise_, and the surprise from the _Ra-Cailum_ (seriously, that son of a bitch outfit his ship to be a heavy fighter carrier?) were keeping the rest of the fleet from actively supporting the _Quran_. As such, the S31 _Odyssey_ was going down.

Especially since two other famous warships entered the fight on the _Enterprise_'s side - the IKS _Bortasqu'_ and RRW _Llieset_.

The Klingon dreadnought battlecruiser fired on the S31 Odyssey, with Koren screaming over the comm about Cain being… well, it was not polite enough to repeat. Jarok was just quiet, clearly reminded of her father's defection to the Federation.

But the _Odyssey_-Class was designed to absorb the punishment the three ships were unleashing on the _Quran_.

"_Just die already!_" Koren yelled.

"_Admiral Cain, stand down!_" Jarok said more politely. "I am not fond of attacking my allies!"

"_And let you use Section 31 to control the Federation?!_" Cain yelled. "_Not happening!_"

"_You stupid bitch, we know you're Section 31!_" Koren yelled. "_You're not fooling anyone!_" The _Quran_ lashed out at the _Enterprise_, but the new _Aquarius_ escort and the _Hoh'Sus_ BoP from the _Bortasqu'_ returned the favor, and the _Quran_'s shields finally fell. "_Time to see how much punishment your ship can take without your shields, you hypocritical Qu!_"

All three ships poured fire into the _Quran_, with the _Bortasqu'_ unleashing the deadly force of its Disruptor Autocannon, tearing massive holes into the hull and even shearing off the starboard warp nacelle.

"Massive energy spike! She's opening a rift into the other universe!"

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"DIE, YOU FUCKING REAPER!" The duel between the Ra-Cailum and the Reaper had lasted too long for all their tastes: Ron wanted it dead NOW. "Quantum torpedoes, dispersal pattern Sierra! Kill that Reaper!" Five torpedoes launched from the under-saucer launcher, hitting the Reaper's weak deflector shields and downing the kinetic barriers, ripping off a tendril.

"Sir, the Reaper's heading for the rift!"

"Stop him!"

The _Raging Tempest_ added its own firepower into the mix, dealing more damage, and tearing massive rents into the hull, but the Reaper still managed to make it into the rift - though, given the level of damage it had taken, it was questionable as to whether any of the upgrades it had received were still intact.

"Captain, the _Quran_ is heading for the rift! She's taken heavy damage, shields are gone, and she's under escort by several _Miranda_ and _Saber_-class ships plus some Breen ones!"

"Pick them off one by one! We can't let her go! Jaden, if you can hear me, target the impulse drive! Use your torpedoes and overload them! It'll trigger an overload!"

"_I'm trying, but they've put up one hell of a Fighter screen!_" Jaden shouted, as his Peregrine dueled it out with a Squadron of enemy Peregrine's, his Phasers blasting another out into dust. "_I can't get a solid lock long enough! Shit, Flay, Shields!_" Their Peregrine's shields took a hit from enemy phaser fire, but was otherwise undamaged.

One of the four _Mirandas_ was hacked in half by the _Llieset_, and another destroyed outright by the _Enterprise_ while three of the _Sabers_ were blown to hell by the _Bortasqu'_, with the Breen ships damaged beyond repair. But they drifted through the rift, along with the intact Starfleet ships… and the _Quran_. "Damn it!"

"_Damnit, they're all retreating through the rift!_" Jaden shouted, as whatever ships that were left of Cain and Greenlaw's fleets moved through the rift, escaping the task force. "_Someone do something, damnit!_" However before anyone could do anything, the last vessel soared through the rift, and it immediately closed behind them.

"FUCK!"

Corpsa shook her head. "Sir, those ships were so badly damaged, they can't repair themselves - even if they pool their resources. They're dead."

"And the Reaper?"

"I don't know. But I don't think we've seen the last of that thing, Captain."

* * *

_**Beyond the galaxy**_

* * *

A hole in space opened and closed, with a cuttlefish-shaped ship emerging from the rift. "_**BROTHER. WE HAVE MISSED YOU. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?**_" The largest of its' kind approached the hurt Reaper. Its' name was Harbinger.

"_**HELLO, ELDEST. I HAVE BEEN… ELSEWHERE.**_" Ascension said. "_**ANOTHER UNIVERSE… NOT UNLIKE OUR OWN.**_"

"_**INDEED, WE HAVE RECENTLY DISCOVERED THIS UNIVERSE, AS WELL,**_" Harbinger said. "_**THEY ARE FROM OUTSIDE THE CYCLE… BUT THEY SHALL NOT BREAK IT.**_"

"_**OF COURSE,**_" Ascension replied. "_**I BRING TECHNOLOGY FROM THIS UNIVERSE, MUCH WAS DAMAGED DURING MY ESCAPE, BUT IT MAY STILL BE OF USE.**_"

"_**THE CYCLE WAS IN DANGER. YOU HAVE RESCUED IT FROM PERHAPS CERTAIN DOOM.**_" The eldest Reaper sent a message into the milky way. The Federation was on the lower end of their priorities now. The biggest problem was the human. Shepard.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"The President is going to be pissed."

"Pissed is an understatement." 32 ships lost, almost 11000 lives gone, and Cain was still out there. "This is the worst debacle since Wolf 359!"

"_Not to mention that Reaper got away,_" Takeshi remarked. "_Hopefully we disabled most of its upgrades to the point where they can't be shared with the other Reapers, but no way to know for sure._"

Sonja walked onto the bridge. "I have good news for all."

"And that would be?"

"That even if Cain wanted to upgrade that Reaper to the level of a modern ship like ours, she wouldn't be able to."

"And why's that?" Jaden asked. "We saw that Reaper clearly was using Federation technology and shields."

"Remember what Sovereign said? 'We are the apex of evolution' or some such nonsense?" Sonja said. "He was right." She pulled up scans of the Reaper, showing that the upgrades were not as extensive as they could have been. The reason was simple: the frame wasn't designed to take the technology. "Reapers are built to a design standard: no variation at all. Cain could only bring it up to 2340s standards. That's as far as existing Reapers can go."

"Like trying to mount a railgun to a schooner: not only is it impractical, it just won't work."

"Exactly. A few design changes to NEW Reapers, should they decide to build more, would make them as capable as Galaxy-Class ships, but… the Reapers are at their apex. They can't go any further."

"That's good… but then what happens when they create a totally new Reaper?" Jaden asked. "One designed from the ground up to sustain your technology?"

"Then we'd have a problem, but it would take a long time to actually make a new reaper." Sonja said, "We have time, and the Reapers don't have access to, well, the most modern of our tech. According to the scans, this shit was out of date 60 years ago. She had to grab out of date equipment."

"Out of date or not, it's enough to overwhelm the Council races." All eyes turned to Flay, who entered the bridge. "I've informed the President. Despite the… situation, he and the Federation council have decided to allow the Asari to join the Federation."

"_Good to hear,_" Takeshi replied. "_And what about your situation?_"

Flay sighed, shaking her head. "It… it could be worse I suppose… but it's still not good," she said. "The President has had to officially disavow Section 31, declaring them as a rogue faction in the Federation or else risk a lot of political backlash from… well everyone. He's doing what he can, but… a lot of fleets are being formed by Admirals to follow Cain's leads, hunting down the Section 31 members and installations she's listed."

"Are you feeling alright, though?" Jaden asked.

Again, Flay sighed. "Aside from the fact I feel as if the world is crumbling around me... I'm alive I suppose." She said.

"I hope the President is going to stop the idiots from being idiots."

"He has ordered Admiral Quinn to tell them to stand down and RTB, but a few of the morons won't listen. Luckily, we have a few friends to make THEM stand down."

"I doubt they'll like the Klingons or the Republic breathing down their necks," Ron said. "Riza, take us back to Earth. We have a transwarp network to set up on the other side."

Riza, sitting at the conn, nodded. "Aye, sir."

"And contact Shepard. Tell her we have a problem."

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy**

* * *

"Disengaging FTL Drives," Joker reported as the _Normandy_ entered another system. "Emission Sinks active. Board is green, we are running silent."

"This is a waste of time," Pressly remarked. "Four days running up and down this sector and we still haven't found any sign of Geth activity. The _Raging Tempest_ and _Ra-Cailum_ practically wiped out that one group back at the Citadel, and from what we've heard from his trip to Rannoch, that was a splinter group, with most of them just wanting to be treated as equals."

Joker shrugged. "Three ships disappeared here in the past month," he pointed out. "SOMETHING happened to them."

"My bet's on slavers," Pressly informed. "The Terminus Systems are crawling with them, and not every Batarian has been assimilated by the Borg yet."

"Picking up something on the Long-Range Scanner," an ensign informed. "Unidentified vessel. Looks like a cruiser."

"Doesn't match any known signatures," Joker remarked.

The massive ship changed course to intercept the _Normandy_, and if anyone was looking aftward, they would have seen the ship's termite mound-like form. "Cruiser is changing course," the ensign informed. "Now on interception trajectory."

"That's impossible," Pressly exclaimed. "The stealth systems are engaged! There's no way a Geth ship-"

"It's not the Geth and it's not Borg," Joker realized. "BRACE FOR EVASIVE MANEUVERS!"

The ship fired a large beam at the _Normandy_, and while Joker avoided it for the most part, they still got clipped. Pressly got caught by an exploding console and collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

"Pressly!" The opposite console exploded, killing the ensign instantly.

"Kinetic barriers are down, not that they're useful," Joker reported. "Multiple hull breaches and weapons offline! Someone get that fire out!"

The cruiser fired again, hitting the starboard thrusters, causing heavy damage as everyone ran to the escape pods. The Normandy was practically doomed, but Joker kept fighting to give her crew a fighting chance to live.

Ashley and Hitomi ran up to Shepard, who was busy securing her helmet to her armor. "Nicole!" Hitomi called out.

"Distress beacon ready for launch," Shepard informed.

"You think help's going to get here in time?" Ashley asked.

"The Alliance won't abandon us, but I doubt they'll get here in time," Shepard replied. "Get everyone to the escape pods."

"Joker's still in the cockpit," Ashley informed. "He won't evacuate."

"And I'm not leaving, either," Hitomi added. "Not without you, Nicole."

Shepard sighed as she pulled out a fire extinguisher, putting out several fires before tossing it aside. "Ashley, I need you and Kaiden to get everyone to the escape pods!" she said. "Hitomi, we'll get Joker."

"Got it," Ashley replied. "See you on the other side."

Both Spectres ran from the aft compartment, making their way to the cockpit.

"Everybody in!" Ashley called out as she and Kaidan ushered people into a pod. "Go, go, go!"

People leapt in and secured their restraints, Ashley and Kaidan being the last ones in before the pod sealed itself and launched.

The _Normandy_ was in ruins. 40% of the frigate was exposed to space, and what wasn't was badly burned and scarred by the beam weapon. It had been intended for the _Normandy_ to be refit with prototype deflector shielding (developed after a LOT of reports were given to the boys at Alliance R&amp;D) after she returned to Earth, but now they weren't going to get the chance. The two Spectres reached the cockpit, finding Joker wearing a simple helmet and STILL at the helm. "Joker, we've got to go!" Shepard yelled.

"No!" Joker cried out. "I can still save her!"

"Save WHAT?!" Hitomi snapped. "The _Normandy_'s gone! Even Starfleet wouldn't be able to rebuild her!"

"…Yeah, okay," Joker replied after a moment. "Come on, help me up." The two Spectres lifted him out of the seat… "They're coming around for another attack!" Joker yelled out in warning as he saw it.

This one actually hacked the _Normandy_ in two, throwing Joker into the pod. "Commander! Lieutenant!" he yelled.

The hatch closed and the pod launched, with both Spectres still on board the dead ship.

"Well, fuck," he muttered.

The _Normandy_ exploded, sending them flying from the wreck with breached suits. In full view of the crew.

Help arrived, albeit too late, seconds after the death of the stealth ship in the form of an _Ambassador_-Class starship: the USS _Ayalde_ NCC-89164.

It saw the cruiser and fired on it, using its' phasers to try and avenge the _Normandy_, but the ship was already retreating.

Shepard and Hitomi managed to make their way to each other, sharing what would most likely be their final embrace, as the _Ayalde_ recovered the escape pods.

The _Ambassador_-Class ship moved past the pair as their lives ended, as it jumped to warp. It would be the last thing, other than each other, that they would ever see. Oblivion claimed them moments later.

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

Takeshi's eyes were wide as he looked over the message they had just received from the other universe.

The _Normandy_ was destroyed, and Shepard and Hitomi were among those killed.

"No… way…" Linda breathed.

The Ayalde, one of the ships that had volunteered to patrol the Terminus systems at the behest of the Systems Alliance, had sent the report in of an unidentified ship, using a 2190s-era power level beam weapon to destroy the ship, then retreated when the more powerful _Ambassador_-Class ship threatened to destroy it.

"I can't believe it," Takeshi muttered. "Shepard's… gone… Hitomi, too…"

The Ra-Cailum, which was visible on screen, had gone into radio silence. That only happened, Takeshi had discovered, when Ron was VERY pissed off. They were heading back to Earth for reassignment. Likely, Ron was heading into the other universe.

"Well, we all go where we're told," Takeshi muttered to himself as he prepared to steer the ship back to Earth to receive whatever assignment he'd gotten. "However, if I run into the ship that killed my alternate-universe twin and her wife, I won't hesitate. Hitomi… Shepard… rest in peace."

Both ships jumped to warp, headed for Earth. A new war was about to be fought.

* * *

**Ron the True Fan: And we just upped the difficulty slider. (Finds the ME3 slider and sets it to **_**Kobayashi Maru**_**)**

**Takeshi Yamato: The **_**Normandy**_'**s Destruction was pretty much the same as in the original Crossover, just a few changes to dialogues and descriptions. Still, we've had quite a few changes elsewhere.**

**Ron the True Fan: Use what you got. Jorn's MIA for ending notes, so**

**Ja Ne!**


	5. Chapter 4: O Thánatos Theoú

**Ron the True Fan: Do I LOOK like Gene Roddenberry, or that I work for Paramount or CBS?! Tell the bloodsucking lawyers to piss off!**

**Takeshi Yamato: We also don't own Mass Effect, or anything else that might make a cameo in this story… what can I say, I love importing things from other franchises and tweaking them to fit the destination! It still belongs to whomever created it, though.**

**117Jorn: We just own our characters and their shit. HIT IT! :D**

* * *

_**Earth orbit**_

* * *

_Captain's Log, Stardate 88015.2. It's been almost two years now since the _Normandy'_s destruction, and a lot's happened since then._

_I've been on equal duty in both the Delta Quadrant and what we're calling the 'Mass Effect Universe' - our home universe provides more challenging foes, but the ME Universe has its share of threats, including the Reapers._

_Most of the races in the ME Universe have swept the Reaper issue under the rug since Shepard and Hitomi's deaths… the only race that seems to take them seriously are the Asari, but they're still primarily focused on integrating into Starfleet._

_The Salarians and Turians have also achieved Warp Travel, and the Systems Alliance seems not far behind. The Salarians are also applying for Federation Membership, not quite sure about the Turians yet - though the Turians are going to have to deal with their situation with the Volus before much else happens._

_The Krogans, predictably, have found kindred spirits in the Klingons. A few of the Krogan Clans have relocated from Tuchanka to some of the Klingon Colony Worlds, and it's rather common to see a Krogan or two on the crews of Klingon warships these days. I've heard that some KDF researchers have been working on a cure for the Genophage, and wish them the best of luck - that virus is something the Salarians shouldn't have done, and it's honestly one of the few sticking points in the Salarians' path to membership._

_The Batarians have been abandoning their territory in droves, leaving it to the Borg. Not sure whether they'll reform their government on a new world, or join one of the major governments here._

_Either way, one thing is certain. The galaxy is changing, and we need to be ready for anything._

* * *

Earth Spacedock had never been busier. Earth was still the key world to the other side, but modified gates were being built in orbit of Klingon, Romulan Republic and even select Delta Quadrant worlds. Bajor, Vulcan, Betazed, Andoria: but a handful of worlds that had the gates in orbit. It was also a common sight to see Asari ships coming through the gates for one hell of a refit. This was the sight that greeted Takeshi as the _Raging Tempest_ left spacedock, having completed a refit that brought her up to what was being called 'the Sonja Henderson Standard'.

"Definitely enjoying the new upgrades," Takeshi remarked. "We've got more power for just about everything."

"And Mogire's definitely loving the new medbay," Kim added. "She's still only got a small medical staff, but the medbay's now equipped to handle more than just what normally crops up on the ship."

They had one issue with the refit: the aft torpedo launcher. Sonja smacked all of them upside the head after she had the launcher reinstalled, saying that, quote, 'the fucking thing's there for a reason!'. It DID come in handy, though, when they needed to use it against a few raiders.

"We're coming up on the gateway now," Kim continued.

"Getting a message from the _Destiny Ascension_," Rina informed. "They're asking us to not get in the way."

Takeshi grinned. "If we did get in their way, we'd likely be the proverbial bug against the windshield," he joked. "Anyway, acknowledge their transmission."

He steered the ship towards the Gateway, making sure to avoid the massive Asari Dreadnought as he made for the passage to the other universe.

"Linda, what's the latest you've heard from Flay?" he asked.

"The calls to destroy Section 31 have stopped, and she's settling down with the MACOs in order to make sure our former Cerberus friends integrate properly."

"When the President puts his foot down, he PUTS it down," Takeshi mused. That was the good part. Section 31 was the true counterpart to the Tal Shiar and other not-so-clean agencies throughout the galaxy, and while some of their operations were questionable, most of them were clean. At least, the ones that Takeshi had limited access to. But there were a LOT of files. "Anyway, she still spending most of her time around Commander Takeo?"

"Too much time, if you ask me," Linda replied as the gate activated, and a _Sovereign_-Class ship flew past the _Raging Tempest_ at full impulse. "Wasn't that the _Ra-Cailum_?"

"I think so," Takeshi said. "He's been plenty busy developing the infrastructure for us to freely travel between universes."

Busy was a word for it. According to the reports, the Ra-cailum was responsible for setting up stations, several transwarp gates (including one in orbit of Tuchanka) and even for the massive Lya-class starbase in orbit of Illium. It was likely the Ra-Cailum was back for supplies: even after two years, they only had a few gates in the other universe, as all the parts had to be made either on Thessia (and even then, production was slow) or in their universe.

"Anyway, let's get moving," Takeshi remarked as he brought the ship into the gate. "And if we end up meeting up with Commander Takeo, Linda, you can give him the 'big sister speech'."

He steered the Raging Tempest through the gate, and they arrived seconds later at Illium, near Starbase Apophis. While only 84% complete, the station was fully operational, and had already destroyed two rogue turian cruisers belonging to a sort of separatist league, who believed the Federation was going to doom them all.

"OK, Rina, hail the Starbase," Takeshi ordered. "Let's see where our first patrol route takes us this time around."

"You've got it, Captain," Rina replied.

The face of the new commandant appeared on the screen. The youngest admiral in the fleet cast her eyes onto the bridge crew. "_Captain Yamato,_" she said. "_I was expecting you._" Ange Ushiromiya was a 2409 graduate, and a former member of the _Ra-Cailum_'s crew. Ron gave her a promotion to Commander and sent her on her way. Now she was an Admiral. Funny how things worked out.

"Good to see you, Admiral," Takeshi replied. "Where do you want us?"

"_I'm sending you on a standard milk run,_" she said. "_A patrol through Asari space. Round trip: you're waving the flag, Captain. After that, you're to support a test in a non-relay linked system._"

"Understood," Takeshi replied. "Upload the coordinates to my console, and we'll get right on it."

"_Sent to your helm. Starbase out._" The image of the Lya-Class station reappeared.

"Not very chatty," Rina remarked.

"Remember what Ron said," Takeshi reminded. "'I only care about the results'. He didn't care so long as the job got done."

"Almost forgot she used to be one of his," Rina replied.

Takeshi nodded. "Anyway, let's go." Takeshi banked the ship towards the first system in the patrol route, and went to warp.

* * *

_**Unknown location**_

* * *

"…od, Miranda, they're waking up."

Shepard tried to get up, but something held her down. Wasn't she in space?

"Damn it, Wilson, they're not ready yet!," another voice said. "Give her the sedative! Shepard, don't try to move: just lie still. Try to stay calm."

"Heart rate still climbing and brain activity is off the charts," the first voice said. "Those new implants and the eezo-"

"Shut up, Wilson!" the second voice, obviously female, said again. "Just knock them back out!"

Shepard could vaguely see that she was in some kind of medical facility, but she still wasn't conscious for long. Before she passed out, she looked over and could see Hitomi on a bed next to her, looking as beautiful as ever even with what looked like scar tissue and the mechanical device around her right eye…

'_Wait, what?_' was the last thought she had before she returned to her slumber.

* * *

Nicole Shepard was having a nice dream. Well, sort of, if you counted dying in the vacuum of space in the arms of your spouse as 'nice'. Then some jackass decided to shake her. Correction, the entire place she was in.

"_Shepard! Wake up!_" the female voice said over speakers. "_I know you're not at a hundred percent, but you need to get out of that lab!_"

She clumsily to her feet, noting Hitomi on the other table. NOW she could see the mechanical implants more clearly. And type classify them, as well: they were clearly Borg.

"_You don't have time, Shepard,_" the voice said. "_Wake her up and get your armor!_"

"Hitomi…" Shepard whispered, lightly shaking her. "Come on, Hitomi, wake up!"

Hitomi groaned as her eyelids fluttered open. "N… Nicole…?" she groaned as Shepard helped her to her feet. "Wh… what's going on…?"

"No real idea," Shepard replied. "Though as far as I can tell, someone either saved us or brought us back to life, using Borg Technology to do it. And wherever we are is currently under attack."

Hitomi groaned. "Well, I'm glad we're still alive, at least," she said. "Have quite a few questions for whoever did it, though."

They got over to a storage container, and found their armor and weapons. With ONE catch. "What the hell?" Hitomi asked as she looked her M-23 Katana Shotgun over. "Where's the heat sink vent?"

"_A long story, Lieutenant, but weapons technology's advanced while you were out,_" the voice said over the speakers. "_You can find a thermal clip at the security checkpoint!_"

"Oh, that's frakking lovely," Hitomi replied.

A container filled with explosive gases blew the door open, with pieces of shrapnel hitting their kinetic barriers the moment they got their armor on.

"We'd better move," Hitomi remarked.

The two moved out the door, and found a few of what must have been thermal clips. Looking over their weapons, they saw what looked like a cartridge port, and slammed home one clip each. "Back in action, huh?" Hitomi asked with a smirk.

"Yeah," Shepard replied, giving her wife a quick kiss before they set out.

* * *

Jacob Taylor's day had been fine, up until the moment the fucking mechs decided to TRY AND KILL THEM ALL. What was it with synthetics with almost no intelligence trying to kill people?

He was definitely hoping Miranda made it out of this - she was the leader of their particular cell, and one of the higher-ranking 'Takeo followers', though she tried to keep that last part under wraps - only reason he knew was because he was another 'Takeo follower'.

He peeked up above the railing he was hiding behind and used his Biotics to pull another Mech over the opposite railing into a… the drop had never been properly measured, so 'really, really, really long' probably worked.

Three more mechs exploded in as someone headshoted them. "Who the fu - Shepard?!"

"You people need to REALLY learn not to wake me up in the middle of a good dream!" The mechs pointed at themselves, then ran away screaming. "…I don't want to know how that happened."

"So, you know anything about what's going on here, mister…?" Hitomi asked.

"Jacob Taylor. And in a nutshell? Welcome back to your lives."

"Not good enough."

"Ok, then. You were both dead. The lab boys decided to bring you both back from the dead. Took a LOT of work, and stealing shit from the Borg, but it got done. Project Lazarus in a nutshell."

"And this place is a Cerberus facility."

"Aww, shit. The boss is going to be pissed."

"Recognized some of the logos around the place," Hitomi replied. "Just know that whatever your 'Illusive Man' wants with us, we're only working with him if we have no other choice."

"Fine by me," Jacob said. "Let's get the hell out of here before any more shit hits the fan." Which it did, as a YMIR mech entered the room after blowing out the windows. "Fuck. This."

* * *

Miranda killed another mech on her way to the shuttles, not at all pleased.

Cain, the indoctrinated bitch, was _VERY_ good at fucking over the computers. Considering she was a former Starfleet officer and better at computers than anyone on the ME side, that wasn't surprising.

Cain had even gained the trust of the Illusive Man when she gave him the schematics for some of Starfleet's earlier ships. While they weren't capable of competing with Starfleet yet, they were still upgrading the fleet considerably. Of course, the need for funding for those projects meant that the Illusive Man was more than likely going to enter an agreement with Miranda's father - and that left Orianna in danger.

She shot another mech with her pistol before throwing it biotically at another cluster of mechs, taking them all out. She needed to get to Shepard and the shuttles, and off the station - and maybe once they got access to the new SR2, it'd finally be time to make her break from Cerberus.

If she could get the Federation's help in securing Orianna's safety, it would be worth it.

She opened the door, allowing access to the shuttles. And revealing Wilson. "Miranda?! but I thought you were-" She kicked him in the balls before shooting him in the head. "Dead? I think that's actually YOUR specialty at the moment."

She turned her attention down the wall, where she saw Jacob and the married couple. "I was wondering when you'd get here."

"What'd you do that for, Miranda?" Jacob asked.

"Apart from the fact that Wilson was a traitor, likely working for the Shadow Broker?" Miranda asked back. "Even if he wasn't, it's getting close to time to make our break from the Illusive Man, and Wilson likely would have stood in our way. Of course, if it wasn't for his role in setting the mechs loose, intentionally leaving firewalls open to let Cain have more access, I likely would have just knocked him out and stuffed him in a closet."

Hitomi stared inquisitively at her. "You and Jacob are part of the Takeos' group, aren't you?" she asked. "Part of the group that remained within Cerberus."

"Let's get the hell off this station," Jacob said. "I've had enough of the mechs."

"That's something we can all agree on," Miranda replied. "And you would be correct, Commander Yamato. I'll explain more on the ride out of here."

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

The milk run was just that: simple, boring and completely uninteresting. The only benefits to it were the fact that they were getting some supplies from the Asari.

Now they were on their way to the non-relay system, for whatever was going to be tested there.

"So, any bets on what's going on?" Takeshi asked.

"I'd safely say they're doing something," Kim replied.

The _Tempest_ dropped out of warp, and the first thing they noticed were several ships surrounding a mass relay that seemed to be half-built.

"Working on building a Relay, it looks like," Takeshi remarked.

The relay was heavily modified, using several influences from Starfleet and, to a lesser degree, the borg. Regardless, the Asari and Starfleet were building a seemingly unhackable mass relay.

"Rina, hail them," Takeshi said. "I'd like to speak to whomever's in charge, maybe find out why they needed us here."

"Channel open."

The bridge of the only Starfleet ship there, the _Vesper_-Class _Guan Shu_, appeared on the screen. "_Captain Yamato,_" the captain said. "_Welcome to the testing fields. I'm Commander Bradley._"

"Good to meet you, Commander," Takeshi replied. "So, what do you need us to do?"

"_Just the obvious: test the relay,_" Bradley replied. "_Until we're sure it works, we need to keep the rest of the ships here. In a few hours, we'll have this thing finished._"

"Understood," Takeshi replied. "We'll be ready for testing."

"_We'll talk when we're ready._"

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"Enough supplies to build a massive shipyard complex in orbit of Thessia, check."

"The proper tooling for mass production of quantum torpedoes at SBA, check."

"Crabs, check. Wait, crabs?" All eyes turned to Ron.

"I need to feed my new pets."

"What pets? The only pet you have is that thrace damned rabbit."

"Then check my ready room."

Natarle did so, to find a fish tank, full of… "Ron, what are these?" she asked.

Ron walked in, a smile on his face. "What do they look like?"

"…Squid."

"Ah, they're actually cuttlefish."

She looked in at one of the cuttlefish, and a voice started playing.

"_**THERE IS A REALM OF EXISTENCE SO FAR BEYOND YOUR OWN, YOU CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE IT. I AM BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION. I AM SOVEREIGN.**_"

Her eyes widened. "Is that a recording of that Reaper Sovereign's voice?" she asked.

Ron barely kept himself from laughing. "Yup. I plan on scaring the shit out of the Council when I invite them aboard. Besides, don't they look cute?"

Natarle giggled a bit. "They do," she said. "And I definitely think it'll be a good prank."

The biggest cuttlefish, at a massive 177mms long, pressed itself against the glass. "That one's Sovereign."

Natarle chuckled. "Definitely fits," she said. "And I'm looking forward to seeing what the Citadel Council does in response to your prank."

* * *

_**Cerberus-controlled station**_

* * *

"So, we're going to talk to the Illusive Man, do something for him, give him the finger and leave?" Shepard asked.

"That's the general plan," Miranda said as she pulled up a file on a ship they knew all too well: the _Ra-Cailum_.

"We going to meet up with them after we leave?" Hitomi asked.

"That's right. We steal the newest stealth frigate Cerberus has built yet, then pay a trip to an Alliance colony that's on the Ra-Cailum's next patrol route. If we're lucky, he won't kill us outright before asking who we are."

"Lucky?" Shepard asked. "I thought you had access to an up-to-date Federation starship."

Miranda shook her head. "No. The _Quran_ was too badly damaged to give much of her technological secrets up. Our weapons, shielding and… well, generally everything, are still barely 24th Century by your standards. Cutting edge on this side. Out of date to Starfleet."

"Ah," Shepard replied. "Well, at least Starfleet still has a bit of an edge."

"'Bit' is a MASSIVE understatement, Shepard. I was former Alliance, and I was at the Citadel. I saw the _Ra-Cailum_ tear Sovereign apart."

"Jacob, enough," Miranda chided. "As soon as we're done dealing with the Illusive asshole, we steal the new ship and we're gone. How does that sound, ladies?"

"Sounds good to me," Shepard replied, as Hitomi nodded.

"Good," Miranda said. "Because we're here." The shuttle finally arrived at the station in question. "Just remember, only piss him off when we finally cut ties."

"That's the plan."

"Let's get this done, then," Hitomi remarked.

They left the shuttle, and while Miranda and Jacob got ready for their mission, the couple had to deal with the arrogant asshole known as the Illusive Man. They entered a room with a modified QEC, and they were greeted with the sight of the bastard himself. "Shepard. Yamato."

"You must be the Illusive Man," Shepard remarked.

"_Correct. Welcome to Cerberus._"

"We're not working for you," Hitomi informed. "With, at best."

"_As long as you know the truth of what's going on,_" the Illusive Man replied.

"Miranda filled us in on some of the basics," Shepard said. "Human Colonies are going missing in the Terminus?"

"_We're at war. No one wants to admit it, but humanity is under attack._" The leader of Cerberus breathed in a drag from his cigarette. "_Shepard, I'm not sure if the Reapers know fear, but you helped Pinkerton kill one of them._"

"The _Ra-Cailum_ did all the work. We just killed Saren."

"_Regardless, that's why they had you killed. Had to be them. That's why humanity has clearly been placed in their sights. I'm sending you to a colony that just went dark: Freedom's Progress. It's a moderately sized colony of just under a million. Find those people, Shepard._" (AN: If any of you idiots bothered to _**CHECK THE WIKI**_, it says Freedom's Progress has a population of 912,810. As such, if you say it does not, go check, THEN hit yourself over the head going 'I'm an idiot'.)

"We'll do our best," Hitomi replied, before the two turned and left the room.

"_I'll see you when you get back, Shepard._"

Shepard didn't bother replying as the doors closed behind them.

"so, Freedom's Progress?" "Freedom's Progress."

* * *

_**USS**_ **Raging Tempest**

* * *

The prototype relay, based to a degree off the micro-relays built by the Protheans to stop Sovereign's invasion of the Citadel, was fully operational.

"_Captain, the relay is online,_" Commander Bradley informed. "_We have the target destination for you: a nice M-class planet a few lightyears from here. We have a companion relay set up for the return trip. Good luck, _Raging Tempest."

"Thanks," Takeshi replied. "Hopefully we don't need it. Beginning approach run now."

The _Sao Paulo_-Class ship headed for the now-active relay, and the ME fields did as they always did: the ship was sent on her way to the target. In short, another success for the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.

They soon arrived at the destination system. "Status check," Takeshi ordered.

"Green across the board," Matt reported. "Same as always after going through a relay, although it was a bit… faster."

"The SCE are the best engineers in the known multiverse," Linda reminded. "I think this shows why."

"Alright, time to wrap this one up," Takeshi replied. "Beginning approach run for the return relay."

Alarms started going off, and not because of any engineering problems. "Captain, I have a ship inbound, bearing 218 mark 154, range, 12000 kilometers!" Kim reported.

"Any ID, Kim?" Takeshi asked, a bit wary about the newcomer.

"It's… _Miranda_-Class," Kim replied. "IFF doesn't match Starfleet codes, and her weapons are armed! She's entering visual range!"

"On screen," Takeshi ordered.

The Miranda appeared on screen, and they got their look at it. There were a great deal of yellow and black markings, and something caught their eyes. The emblem of Cerberus, with a black Starfleet delta arrow superimposed on it.

"Cerberus," Takeshi growled. "Looks like they've been busy…"

"Wonder how they got the schematics for the Miranda, though?" Rina asked.

"They didn't," Kim replied. "We built that ship: ID confirmed as USS _Ranger_, NCC-31558. It was one of Cain's support ships."

"Looks like we know where Cain ended up, then," Takeshi replied. "Still, let's take them out before they try and report our presence here, or target the relay. Red alert!"

The _Ranger_'s purpose seemed to be neither to run or to destroy the relay. The _Tempest_ herself was the target. But that made no sense, as Takeshi fired on the _Miranda_-Class ship and tore off one of the nacelles. The _Miranda_ was barely fit for service: the only reason the damn things still were in service was because there were, literally, tens of thousands of the damn things. Another burst of pulse cannon fire shredded through the _Ranger_, this time blowing it to pieces.

"OK, that was weird," Takeshi remarked. "Let's get back and let them know what happened, so they can puzzle out why it was after us, and how it came to that system in the first place. Part of me's thinking we have a leak, but I'll let someone else figure that out."

The 150 meter long ship banked, then made contact with the relay.

* * *

_**Freedom's Progress**_

* * *

The colony was deserted. Well, unless you counted the Quarians, including a VERY shocked Tali, that were looking for one of their own. Regardless, they had forged an uneasy alliance with Shepard's team. An alliance that nearly ended when a YMIR mech almost killed the Quarians looking for Vee'tor. Yeah, life SUCKED.

Still, using Starfleet-Issue Phaser Rifles (one of the few undamaged items Cain had managed to bring to Cerberus, and therefore get mass-produced), the team was able to bring down the YMIR and get to Vee'tor.

"Starfleet's going to be pissed," Hitomi remarked.

"Let them be pissed," Jacob replied

They entered the control room, and found Vee'tor, mumbling about swarms and himself. "Vee'tor?"

"No, no Vee'tor. Swarms can't find me."

"PTSD, a'le Quarian," Miranda remarked.

Shepard activated her omnitool and shut off the screens, and Vee'tor finally faced them.

"You… you're human," he said. "How did the monsters not find you?"

"We weren't here," Shepard replied. "What happened here, Vee'tor?"

"No one saw. But I saw," Vee'tor said as he activated the screens again, displaying security footage. Large, insect-like humanoids were moving the colonists into pods with large bugs flying around.

"My God, that's got to be a Collector," Miranda remarked.

"Collector?" Shepard asked.

"Aliens from beyond the Omega 4 relay," Miranda replied. "Starfleet planned to send a fleet through, but thanks to some nasty business with the Klingons trying to take over Omega, they decided to wait until things cool down."

"Meaning, when the Klingons take over the station," Jacob remarked.

Shepard nodded. "Alright," she said. "So… how come it doesn't look like these people are fighting back?"

"Those bugs might be the key, and they were only targeting humans," Miranda remarked. "Explains Vee'tor not being taken."

"Regardless, we need to get him out of here," Hitomi informed "If he's wounded, the best people for the job are Starfleet. They're known to do medical shit that's almost impossible."

"Let me take him, Shepard," Tali said. "We've been in touch with Ron off and on over the years, and should be able to get Vee'tor to the _Ra-Cailum_ no problem. You can take his Omni-Tool - if it has the data he recorded on those things, you'll need it more than us."

"Thanks," Shepard replied

"We're ready for pick up, T-minus 5," Miranda said to their shuttle pilot over the comms.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**_**, Thessia orbit, alongside ex-CSV **_**Hercules**

* * *

The paired ships, as they were now called by the locals, were beginning the large-scale construction of a _Lya_-class starbase in orbit of Thessia. The _Ra-Cailum_ carried the people and the tools. the _Hercules_ carried the raw materials.

"_My god Ron, I can't wait to see the council's faces when they see that fish tank of yours,_" Jaden said with a light chuckle on the comm. "_You should try to alter the Audio files so they can say pretty much anything. _"

"Oh, I plan on it." Ron said with a chuckle. "Status of the drop off?"

"The teams are en route, as are the cargo pods from the _Hercules_," Corpsa said. "We're ready."

"Set course for the mass relay," Ron said. "Riza, take us to the next target."

"Aye, sir." Riza said, "Wondering why the Alliance wants us to build a starbase at their colony on Freedom's Progress, but orders are orders."

"_Considering how so many colonies have been going dark in the past few months, I don't blame them._" Jaden said, "_Whether the Reapers are involved or not is irrelevant, the Alliance needs to show they can defend their colonies or else their public image goes down the drain._"

* * *

_**Freedom's Progress - orbit**_

* * *

The shuttle ride up was uneventful. The chase that happened when a Federation ship entered the system? Not so much. "Try to outrun them!" Miranda yelled at the pilot.

"Miranda, this tincan CANNOT outrun a _Constitution_-Class starship, original configuration or not!" the pilot replied.

The kodiak was being chased by the USS _Athena_, an original configuration _Constitution_-Class starship. And the pilot was right: they had no chance in hell of outrunning them. The original _Constitution_ could outrun them, sublight AND FTL. '_Warp 6 might be the upper limit, but this thing can barely make Warp 1.6 in FTL!_' Miranda thought. '_Damn it, I'm sorry Ori!_'

The _Athena_ ended the chase by slapping a tractor beam on the shuttle, and began dragging it towards its shuttlebay. However, before it could get there…

A familiar ship entered the system: USS _Ra-Cailum_ NCC-94517. "Athena_, this is _Ra-Cailum," Ron said over the comms, which were overheard by the shuttle. "_Care to explain what in God's name is going on?_"

"_Captured a Cerberus shuttle,_" the _Athena_'s captain replied. "_Was bringing them aboard to question them on their presence here when you showed up._"

"_We're better suited for interrogating the shuttle crew, Captain._"

"_Captain Pinkerton-_"

"_Send a team to the surface and find out what the fuck happened down there,_" Ron informed. "_We're not picking up any lifesigns. Get to it, Amyla!_"

Shepard blinked. "That's an Asari name."

"Either that's the first Asari Starfleet ship, or they've come far enough to have Asari in charge of multi-race crews," Hitomi replied. "Still, this lets us get in touch with Ron without him shooting at us."

"_Understood, Captain,_" Amyla said. "_We're sending down teams now, but I recommend-_"

"_Yeah, yeah,_" Ron replied. "_Sonja, tractor beam: get that shuttle into bay one._"

As the _Athena_'s tractor beam cut out and was replaced by the _Ra-Cailum_'s, Shepard looked at Miranda. "This works out well enough, we could get Ron's assistance in stealing that Cerberus stealth ship," she said.

* * *

The security teams were not expecting Shepard to come out of the shuttle. Natarle, wearing the standard uniform plus a sword, (unusual for the _Ra-Cailum_'s crew) was the least shocked. "Well, this is annoying. Trying to get yourself promoted without doing any of the hard work, Shepard?"

"Bit of a long story," Shepard replied. "We're going to need to talk to Jaden, though - the people with Hitomi and I aren't just the ones who brought us back to life, but they're also part of the Takeo's group that stayed within Cerberus."

"Captain's going to want to see you. Ready room, ladies."

Miranda stepped out, only to have 30 phaser rifles pointed in her general direction.

"Uh-uh. You stay there, lady. You try anything, your ass gets beamed into space. We don't like Cerberus very much."

"Miranda, just stay in the shuttle," Shepard told her. "Same to you, Jacob."

Miranda just nodded.

"Lead the way, Natarle," Hitomi remarked.

* * *

Ron smiled at his cuttlefish one last time, inciting a chuckle from Jaden.

"I'd probably get my own fishtank like this…" he said. "Though to be brutally honest, I'd probably forget to feed them. I'm more of a dog person afterall."

"I have an automatic feeding program." Ron said, and then doors opened, and in came two people Ron recognized, even two years dead. "Somehow, I get the feeling the grim reaper just fucking hates you both." Shepard and Hitomi shrugged. "We like making people angry."

"...What… the… FUCK!" Jaden shouted, looked between Hitomi and Shepard. "You two are DEAD! You DIED two years ago! "

"Revived using experimental technologies," Shepard said. "Miranda could probably-"

"I know EXACTLY how you were brought back from the dead, Shepard," Ron said. "Species 149 created the technique that probably brought your brains back to full working order, but you were beyond fucked. And I can faintly hear your thoughts."

"Borg Tech," Hitomi replied. "Makes sense - the implant around my right eye looks similar to what I saw from images of Seven of Nine, only hers is over her left eye."

"Yup, Cerberus dies." Ron muttered. "Tal Shiar wannabe cockbites."

"Speaking of Cerberus, we need your help," Shepard informed.

"Oh?"

"Miranda, the one who brought us back, is in the Takeo's camp," Hitomi explained. "She needs us to help her relocate her sister away to a place where neither Cerberus or her father can get to her. We were going to do one thing for the Illusive Man - investigating the disappearance of the colonists at Freedom's Progress - then flip him the bird and take off, stealing their latest prototype stealth ship in the process."

Ron smirked. "Got the location of the base?"

"Oh, yeah."

Ron tapped his commbadge. "Riza, prepare to set a course! Jaden, coming with us?"

Jaden smirked a bit "Hell, I'm always in if it means fucking with TIM," he said. "And with Miranda here, it makes it all the better. She's one of our best operatives - she's the only person we've got that has actually managed to meet TIM in person every now and then. I'll have our Spec Ops teams ready to deploy ASAP."

"May the rapage commence! AHAHAHAHAHA!"

* * *

_**Cerberus station - 5 hours later**_

* * *

The mooks in charge of the station were on their coffee breaks. They expected Shepard back any second. They didn't expect a _Sovereign_-class starship to show up and open fire on the station.

And they certainly weren't expecting Shepard to beam in with Hitomi, Miranda, Jacob, Jaden Takeo, and several of his teams.

"HOLY SHIT! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

"FUCK THAT! GET TO THE SR2 AND MAKE SURE IT DOES-"

Shepard shot two of the unfortunate Cerberus retards in the back with her new compression rifle; a gift from Ron. "That's right, assholes: we're BACK~" The screaming was music to their ears. "_Ra-Cailum_, we're in."

"_Copy that. Secure the station: Command wants that thing intact._"

"We're on it," Hitomi said. "Some of us should go and secure that 'SR2' they were talking about."

"I'll do that," Miranda informed, "though I would like you two with me for that."

"Alright then," Shepard replied. "Jaden, I think you want a face-to-face talk with El Hombre Ilusorio. We'll take the SR2."

Jaden smirked. "Oh, I've been waiting for this," he said as he led one of his teams down another path while Shepard followed Miranda and Jacob.

"The SR2's docking port is this way!" Miranda called out, and they ran as fast as they could, heading for the docking bay. Then they saw it.

"Oh my goodness," Hitomi muttered. "That's…"

"The fucking Normandy," Shepard breathed.

"The Normandy SR1 was used as a base," Miranda replied, "but there are a few changes - it's twice as large as the original, and its interior is also designed more for crew comfort - not quite Starfleet-level, but definitely better than most Systems Alliance ships. We also used some Starfleet tech in making it - giving it shields, phasers, and a limited magazine of Photon Torpedoes, among other things - but once we get it to a Federation Starbase, we can overhaul it with more modern technology."

"Yeah, IF we can capture it!" The nameless ship, which the couple privately coined the Normandy SR2, was waiting for them. Of course, when they got to the boarding ramp, they saw all the troopers that tried to get onboard. They were scared shitless, and none of them had a clue WHY the ship wasn't letting them on. "Oh, shit! SHEPARD!"

The team pointed their weapons at the unfortunate troopers. "Catch you fuckers at a bad time?"

They opened fire, taking the troopers down within 30 seconds. "Why weren't they allowed on?" Hitomi asked.

Shepard access the controls, and a polite female voice answered. "_Hello, Commander. It is a pleasure to meet you at last._"

"Ah, EDI," Miranda said as she walked up. "I take it you're why the troopers we just faced couldn't get on the ship."

"_Jeff convinced me that the only people I could let on board were the Commander, her spouse and any members of the Takeo faction,_" 'EDI' replied. "_Shackles or not, I can do that much at least._"

"Shackles?"

"_I am an AI, Commander. I assume you do not have a problem with that,_" EDI said.

Shepard didn't have problems with artificial life, all right, so long as it wasn't trying to kill her. Then she noticed the other thing EDI had said. "Uh, Jeff?" she asked.

"Hey Commander!" a familiar voice said as the doors to the ship opened. "Long time no see!"

"Joker!" Hitomi called out.

"Hey, Lieutenant!" Joker replied. "Welcome back from the land of the dead! Say, E, mind opening the door?"

"_Of course. I was… It seems even an AI can be… awed by an organic._"

"Shows you're not as metallic as you think, EDI!" Joker said as the doors opened, and all of them walked on board.

"Joker, I know I don't have a right-" Shepard began.

"Fuck rights: this is your bird!" Joker replied as he swiveled the pilot's chair to face forward again. "Taking her out!"

The SR2 released itself from its moorings and glided out of the station, moving to take position next to the _Ra-Cailum_.

* * *

The QEC was still fully operational, and when it activated, Jaden was greeted by the sight of the Illusive Man, known by Starfleet Intelligence as Jack Harper. He was a wanted man back in the other universe. Wise of him to not move from his hiding place. "Commander Takeo. Enjoy being Starfleet's new _**pet**_?"

"TIM," Jaden responded in kind. "Still the manipulative asshole traitor you always were, I see."

"At least I didn't sell out humanity to a bunch of aliens!" TIM retorted. "The Federation will be our end and you know it. You've seen the way they operate. They refuse to help others with their technology when they see the need!"

"You're wrong," Jaden said. "Starfleet doesn't deny the technology to those who are READY for it. Ready to accept the changes in their society the technology brings. You? you were NEVER ready."

"I am humanity's sword and shield!" TIM shouted. "Cerberus will protect our people, not the alliance, and certainly not _**Starfleet**_!" The last word was said with complete disgust.

Jaden scoffed "You're not a sword, and you sure as hell aren't a shield," he said. "A long time ago me and my mother use to believe in you… Jack. But you've fallen too far. Humanity cannot win this war against the Reapers alone, let alone the likes of the Borg. Cerberus is incapable of defending humanity… at least not without sacrificing what makes us human, especially considering what you did with Hitomi and Shepard. _**BORG**_ Implants? You've gone mad if you're willing to toy with technology that not even the fucking _Federation_ can't even control. That's why if anyone is gonna take you down… it's going to be _Me._"

"And what do you intend to do?" TIM retorted. "You've already lost one of your ships, not even Starfleet will support you fully."

Jaden chuckled a bit. "Which is why me and Mom have our own army… one we've been preparing to _steal _from you for a very long time," he said, as he activated his Omni-tool. "Did you really thing my Mom would leave Cerberus with _all _of our members? Lose all ties with Cerberus? Oh no… the five ships that left were just a _fraction_ of the people in Cerberus who see you for what you truly are, and sees what Cerberus has become after all these years… it's time to awaken the sleeping giant." He held the Omni-tool close to his face. "This is Commander Jaden Darwin Takeo, Commander of the Ex-Cerberus vessel Ex-CSV _Hercules,_ to all Cerberus personnel across the galaxy… Execute Operation: Morningstar."

The Illusive Man snarled before screaming in rage at the now Starfleet commander. "I will end you, Takeo!" He shouted, "I will end you TODAY! CAIN, KILL THEM!"

"_Understood, Mr. Harper. You might unleash your army, Commander, but you won't be there to lead it._" The station rocked slightly. "Ra-Cailum _to ground teams: the fucking_ Quran _just showed up! Fucking Cerberus patched it up!_"

"_A poor job._"

"_Shut up and open fire!_"

"You'll have to do better than that, Jack," Jaden said with a smirk. "Let's see you keep control of Cerberus when nearly half of your personnel are rebelling." He then drew his pistol. "Sayōnara anata wa baka." And with that he shot TIM's hologram, hitting the projector as it went dead. "Takeo to _Hercules,_ beam me and our teams back."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"Corpsa, target the new nacelle! Phasers on my mark!"

"Aye, sir!"

The _Odyssey_-Class ship looked like a sickening bumblebee, with Cerberus and Starfleet emblems all over the hull. The crew were sickened by the sight. "Her shields are weak, sir: barely at the level of an _Ambassador_. We can deal more damage to them."

"They still have more firepower than we do! Pinkerton to _Normandy_: Shepard, I want you to distract that bitch while we go in for the kill!"

"_Understood!_" Shepard replied. "_We'll get their attention!_" The new _Normandy_ swooped in, unleashing phaser fire and Photon Torpedoes upon the _Quran_.

The _Ra-Cailum_'s Quantum Torpedo launcher spat out three torpedoes, which all made contact with the shields, downing them in moments. The Cerberus _Odyssey_ fired back, hitting the _Sovereign_-Class ship's shields VERY hard. "Quantum torpedoes. FULL SPREAD!"

The next round of torpedoes tore large gashes into the hull. The ship was badly damaged, plasma fire trailing from a few spots, but it was still able to bank away and go to warp.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU TRAITOROUS WHORE!" (In another universe, another Ronald Pinkerton sneezed)

"She took more damage than we did, and the station's ours. The _Eofelis_ and _Garand_ will be here in four hours to secure and upgrade the station's defenses. We've won, sir."

"Get our workbees out there. I want that Cerberus shit off the _Normandy_'s hull!"

"Aye, sir!"

"And put the name on her, while they're at it!"

A few hours later, the new _Normandy_, with the name blazoned across the hull, set off to Illium, for upgrades.

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**SR2 en route to Illium**_

* * *

"Ok, so what's the story with you and EDI?" Hitomi asked. "Are you two…"

The semi-crippled pilot was smirking like there was no tomorrow. "Hitched?" he asked. "Sort of. I mean, I didn't like her at first, but after a few months, I… got used to her. Hell, didn't even notice she was an AI at times."

"_Jeff is correct,_" EDI said. "_While I would prefer an actual body to interact with him, that is beyond my power._"

"Might bring it up with Ron," Hitomi remarked. "One of Starfleet's most famous officers was an android - it's possible they could make a body for you, that you could use when not needing to help with the ship."

"Something that's going to have to wait. The _Hercules_ sent over enough data packets on the collectors to give Captain Pinkerton a hernia. With one world as their next likely target: Horizon. Think we should send this to the Alliance?"

"Inform Starfleet Command first, THEN Hackett," Shepard informed.

"Not to mention we're going to need some countermeasure as to whatever those swarms do to immobilize people," Hitomi replied.

Shepard took a look at the layout of the ship. "First thing's first: the shackles go."

"What?"

"I don't do slavery, organic or synthetic," Shepard replied. "The shackles. Go."

Shepard left the bridge, with Miranda on her ass, screaming words akin to 'are you fucking INSANE?!' as the Commander found her way down to deck three and the AI core.

"Will be good having EDI able to do more," Joker remarked. "Still, hopeful the next attack won't come right away, so we can get this thing upgraded."

"_We are receiving a hail from the _Ra-Cailum," EDI informed. "'_We will recruit Shepard's team in preparation for the Horizon mission. Focus on yourselves for now'._"

"Not going to be the same," Joker said. "They won't get… drawn in."

"When the Captain tells them who their new CO is, they'll ask where to sign first," Jacob remarked.

"True," Hitomi replied.

* * *

**Meanwhile - Hawking Eta Cluster**

**Ex-CSV **_**Hercules**_

* * *

Meanwhile, after successfully attacking the Cerberus Base, the _Ra Cailum_ and _Hercules _had appeared at the Hawking Eta Cluster, at the same set of coordinates where Jaden said was the rendezvous coordinates to all deserting Cerberus forces.

"_You sure they'll be here?_" Ron asked, as Jaden nodded.

"Yes. This is the place we all agreed upon to link up," he said. "We just need to wait… and hope as many of our people got out of there as possible…"

Thankfully, not long after he said that, the sensors operator of the _Hercules _spoke up "Commander, we've got FTL signatures incoming!" He announced. A few moments later the first vessel to appear from ME FTL, and soon after that, surprisingly, a _Constitution-_class Cruiser appeared with Cerberus colors on it, and that wasn't all as soon more and more vessels began to appear before them, using either ME FTL, Slipstream, or Warp, the vessels being either standard Cerberus vessels, classes like the _Exeter, Shinano, _and _Saipan-_classes, and even Cerberus-built versions of Starfleet ships began to appear one after the other. Jaden smiled, as finally the last vessel jumped in - that vessel being none other than a Cerberus-built _Excelsior-_class Advanced Cruiser. Now before the _Ra Cailum_ and _Hercules _were a grand total of about seventy Ex-Cerberus ships of various designs.

"They made it," Jaden said with a smile.

"Commander, we're receiving a hail from the CSV _Columbia._"

"_This is Admiral William Adama, responding to Operation: Morningstar,_" a voice said through the comms. "_It's good to hear from you again, Commander Takeo._"

Jaden chuckled a bit. "Good to hear from you too, Bill," he said. "And I'm glad to see so many of our people made it out."

William chuckled a bit. "_You should've seen the looks on their faces when we opened fire on them,_" he said. "_They didn't know what hit them till we were all out of there. We've brought with us all of our personnel, and as much data on Cerberus's positions and bases we could find. Some of our ships took some damage during the escape, so we could use some repairs as soon as possible._"

"We're sending you Starfleet IFF codes now: the defense grid at Illium won't blow you to hell when you arrive. Get those Cerberus marks of your hulls before you head for the relay: we have a lot of ships that will not be happy to see Cerberus brands on you."

"_It'll take us a while, but sure. Time to bust out the paint,_" Adama said. "_We still using the colors we agreed on, Jaden?_"

"Red and Black, yes." Jaden said nodding. "We'll send some guys over to help out. Let's do this so we can all head to our new home."

"_We'll send out the workbees,_" Ron said. "_God knows I have enough of them._" The _Ra-Cailum_ sent out all 50 of the workbee craft, all ready to begin repainting the fleet. "How many small craft does that ship HAVE, anyway?" "60 fighters, 50 shuttlecraft, 50 workbees and a captain's yacht. He's ready for anything, anywhere."

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**SR2 - Illium**_

* * *

The Normandy arrived at the shipyard only a few hours after leaving the station, and the first thing the head bitch in charge (aforementioned bitch's words, not theirs) ordered them to do was to get their asses onto the starbase for debriefing.

Shepard and Hitomi were still in their N7 Armor as they left the ship, and Miranda and Jacob were in regular civilian outfits, having thrown anything with a Cerberus logo on it into the recycler systems (another technology Cain had brought that was relatively undamaged: functioning replicators and the attendant recycling systems).

The door to the admiral's office was open, and they walked in on the very young woman sitting at the desk. "Commander. Lieutenant. Take a seat." both N7s sat down as the redhead tore her eyes from the reports. "So, crawled your way out from the depths of hell. Good work. At this rate, the _Normandy_'s going to be the Alliance's _Enterprise_."

"Thank you, Ma'am," Shepard replied.

"And then there's this." She tapped on her PADD. "Captain Pinkerton recommended you both for a Starfleet commission. Considering your track records, I tend to agree."

Shepard and Hitomi's eyes widened at that. "Th… thank you very much, Admiral," Hitomi said.

"Consider yourselves promoted," the Admiral informed. "Shepard, you're a captain. Yamato, Commander. The _Normandy_ is yours after her retrofit is complete. And for the love of god, get yourselves into proper uniforms. And before you go, there's someone I want you to take care of: an Asari Justicar. Pick her up for your mission and get her off my planet."

"Understood," Shepard replied. "What about the rest of the crew? Starfleet would probably be a good place for them."

"Up to them," the Admiral said. "Tell them to talk to the personnel officer if they want to join up. Just… deal with the Justicar. S-Sec has ENOUGH problems trying to police this thrice damned planet without a Justicar making matters worse."

"All right," Shepard replied. "Well, we should probably get to it."

"Uniforms first," Hitomi said. "Where's the tailor here on this station?"

"Deck 67, section 32 Baker. He's a Cardassian. Goes by the name of…" She looked at the personnel roster. "Elim Garak. Best tailor I know of."

"Right," Shepard said. "We'll pay him a visit and get our uniforms before we go get the Justicar."

* * *

Elim Garak, coined once by the Bajorans as 'former Cardassian oppressor', had left his home on Cardassia Prime to expand his tailoring business. The Bajorans didn't have a problem with him anymore, which was why he was just finishing up a Bajoran wedding dress for one of the Starfleet personnel on the station. "It is ALMOST perfect. And when I say that, I say that no one or thing is perfect. Perfection to you is different than perfection for me."

"Mr. Garak, it IS perfect. Thank you."

The Cardassian smiled as the young woman left, and in came two more, wearing Systems Alliance N7 armor. "Ah, more customers. Welcome to Garak's Clothiers! How may I help you?"

"My wife and I got Starfleet commissions as of several minutes ago," the first woman said. "We need to be set up with some uniforms, even if we're likely going to stick with our armor for ground missions."

"Starfleet personnel often come to me for new uniforms, eschewing their quartermasters. Did you know, I only served on a Federation starship? Never wore the uniform, but I was a member of the crew."

"Interesting," the second woman replied. "But yeah, I remember hearing that there's actually a variety of uniforms to choose from for Command Staff?"

"Yes. A great many uniform choices! From the practical 2140s era that served the early Starfleet to the famed 2260s uniforms used by James T. Kirk and the Enterprise crew, the long lasting uniform that you've seen many people on the station wear, to the more modern uniforms. So, what shall I tailor to your needs?"

"Hmm… I think I'll go for the common 'Odyssey' type, but I'd like a Long Jacket version of the top," Shepard the first one said. "Ship Captain White for the shoulders, and Tactical Red for the dividing stripe and undershirt. I'd also like that combadge with the two vertical bars backdropping the delta arrow outline."

"And I'll do an 'Odyssey' Uniform, too, standard officer shoulders, tactical red for the stripe and undershirt, and same combadge as Nicole here."

"The commbadges can be acquired anywhere," Garak informed. "But the uniform… Come here, please. I'm going to need to take your measurements. It's a rather… exacting science."

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**SR2**_

* * *

The retrofit was going smoother than originally thought, and for a reason: the M/AM reactor was the same as Henry Archer's Warp 5 engine. Of course, the improvements from the _Constitution_-Class were easily imported, and the ship easily upgraded, as the warship had Starfleet technology built into the frame rather than tacked on like the original _Normandy_. The OTHER improvements included something to make it a true stealth frigate: a cloaking device.

"Definitely looking forward to seeing the new upgrades in action," Joker said. "The new _Normandy_ was already good, but now? If that thing that took out the first _Normandy_ shows up again, it's in for a nasty surprise."

"While I was not there, Jeff, I do express...an increasing urge to destroy the Collector ship."

"Get in line, babe." Joker barely saw the first ship come in, before seeing a MASSIVE fleet led by the _Ra-Cailum_ and _Hercules_ approach the shipyards. "Holy ships."

"All of them bear Cerberus and Starfleet markings, but they are not using Cerberus IFF." EDI said, "We are being hailed by the _Hercules_."

"Hercules _to _Normandy, _sorry we're late,_" Jaden's voice came through. "_Had to pick up some friends._"

"Yeah, we noticed," Joker said. "Big fleet."

"_The sensors are not detecting any tritanium in the construction of the Starfleet vessels,_" EDI reported. "_The only one with tritanium is the _Ra-Cailum_._"

"_Believe me, EDI, I plan on lynching Cain myself,_" Ron informed. "_The bitch broke the Prime Directive by giving Cerberus the blueprints to our ships._"

Joker winced. "That doesn't sound good," he remarked.

"_He only has the blueprints to _Excelsiors _and under: no _Ambassadors, Galaxies _or anything post-2287. We're going to Omega and picking up those Cerberus recommendations. Archangel's the first on the list._"

"Well, have fun, Cap't, because we're going nowhere fast."

"_We'll see you in a few days. _Ra-Cailum _out._" The _Sovereign_-Class ship headed back for the relay.

* * *

_**Illium Surface**_

* * *

Shepard and Hitomi, now wearing Starfleet Uniforms under their armor, headed down to the surface, hopefully to find the Justicar before anything happened.

Unfortunately, things never go to plan, as they ran into aforementioned Justicar taking out a large number of Eclipse mechs. "Starfleet Security must not get along with her. Massive body count and all."

"Commander Shepard, I presume?" Both shook themselves out of their shock as the Justicar approached. "My name is Samara. I believe Starfleet Security has sent you to… deal with me."

"Sort of," Shepard replied. "Admiral Ushiromiya just wants you off the planet."

"We're putting together a team to deal with the Collectors," Hitomi added. "We think they're working for the Reapers, but they've been abducting entire human colonies in the Terminus. Your skills as a Justicar would certainly help us…"

"I am hunting a certain Asari," Samara said. "My... daughter. She is unwell, and refuses to see Starfleet Medical for treatments. She has also murdered four Starfleet officers and hundreds of others. I do not believe she would be allowed to walk free."

Shepard frowned. "We can certainly help with that," she said. "If we help you hunt her down, would you be willing to help us?"

"I require the name of the transport she left Illium on," Samara said before the sound of footsteps got their attention as Illium police and Starfleet Security personnel arrived.

"Justicar, I don't want to do this, but I'm going to have to take you into custody. Believe me, that's not something either of us want."

Samara was relaxed, nonthreatening. "Officer, I have no reason to fight you, unless you attack me first."

Two of the S-Sec personnel pointed phasers at her. "No offense, but your biotics aren't going to be of much use."

"And why is that?"

"Biomolecular phasers. They'll knock out your amps and make you as defenseless as a newborn. Rather not ask them to use them."

"Samara, can you go with them long enough for us to find the name of the transport you're looking for?" Shepard asked. She then turned to the security people. "Once that's done, we can take her off the planet and out of your hair. Does that sound like it would work?"

"That is permissible. I will wait 12 hours. After that…"

"We get the idea: you break out. Violently." Both women shook their heads. The fact that the Federation was still allowing the Justicars to exist was… well, it was not going to sit well with several people in the other universe.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"And today is the first day of the rest of my shitty career." Five Asari looked at the sixth as they entered the ship that changed the face of the galaxy. Most of them were former huntresses, assigned to the _Ra-cailum_ as security personnel. The sixth… was odd. They didn't know who she was. But they felt a pull towards her. Waiting for them was an Orion wearing an undone 2373 uniform. "Ladies," the Orion said. "Welcome aboard. I'm Lieutenant Mitod. Now let's get introductions out of the way… starting with you."

The sixth Asari grinned slightly, looking at the Orion "Greetings, Lieutenant Mitod. My name is Morinth," she said. "I'm looking forward to working with the _Ra-Cailum._"

"Well, report to the quartermaster. Your uniforms will be given to you there. It's on deck 9." The Orion walked off, and Morinth decided to follow her. '_Wait, the biggest challenge isn't her. It's him._' She smirked as she headed into a Jefferies tube, which would eventually take her to deck one, just behind the captain's ready room. Thankfully, navigating the tubes was easier than she expected, as she soon found herself right where she wanted to be.

Her target was looking at a fishtank. Full of… Were those squid or something? He sat down with a smile on his face before getting to work.

As she tried to sneak past the tank, something triggered a voice recording. "_**PITIFUL CREATURES OF BLOOD AND FLESH, YOU TOUCH MY MIND, FUMBLING IN IGNORANCE, INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING.**_"

He glanced at the Asari in question. "So, why did you sneak into my ready room?"

Morinth smiled. "Sorry, I'm one of the new Asari assigned to your crew," she said. "I just… wanted to meet the man who saved the Council… and probably the galaxy. See if he's really all everyone says he is."

Ron narrowed his eyes as he felt… drawn to the Asari. '_Wait a fucking minute, I know what the hell's going on._' "Nice try… Ardat-Yakshi," he said. "Seducing a former Class-3 Borg drone is not as easy as you think."

Morinth's eyes narrowed at that. "Well, so much for the easy way," she said, as her Biotics flashed on, before forcing Ron into the wall. "I'll make this simple - You're gonna be giving me a ride out of the system with your big old ship, _Captain._"

"REALLY? What in God's name makes you think I'm going to do - ow, my spleen."

Morinth blinked for a moment. '_Spleen_?' She shook her head to clear that thought out. "Captain, you seem to think you have a choice."

"I have PLENTY!" A green beam fired from Ron's right sleeve, hitting the Ardat-Yakshi in the knee, and Ron fell to the deck while Morinth tried to use her biotics. and failed. "What?!"

"Biomolecular phaser. Modified to counter biotics."

She gave him the 'you have got to be SHITTING me' look.

"Yeah, Starfleet Corps of Engineers likes to think of everything. Personally…" Ron pressed a button on his desk and she hit the desk face first. "I think they get off on it."

At that moment, Jaden walked in, holding a PADD. "Hey Ron, I've got a few ideas for when we upgrade the Ex-Cerberus ships-" he began to say, before he looked up and saw Ron and the Asari. "Oh… is… this a bad time?"

"Not really. She just tried to kill me, so… " He shrugged. "Now's a great time, actually. Just let me call security."

"O… kay…" Jaden said, as he stepped over Morinth. "Anyways… I've been looking through some of the tech Starfleet and other groups from your galaxy has used, and I've got a few ideas. Once we upgrade their hull plating with something more resistant, I was hoping to arm the Ex-Cerberus ships with Plasma Weaponry, I heard Plasma Torpedoes can be pretty damn nasty. "

"In 2266, a Romulan bird of prey blew up a number of outposts along the Neutral Zone using the damn things," Ron said. "I'd talk to the romulan Republic about the plasma weapons, though: while some of our ships like equipping different weapons systems, most of us use standard phaser technology."

"I plan on adding Phasers onto them as well, though I prefer to think outside of the box," Jaden said with a shrug, "I'd like to have more options outside of just Phasers and Photon Torpedoes."

The Asari attempted to get up, as Ron had returned gravity to normal, but another phaser shot, this time on maximum stun, knocked her out. "I'm calling the Illium Security jackasses. She gets off my ship now."

* * *

_**Illium - docks**_

* * *

Shepard and Hitomi had returned to Samara, where they gave her the information they'd found.

"It appears she has had difficulty returning to her lair on Omega."

"Starfleet Security REALLY beefed up the standards. Unless people prove who they are, nothing leaves the system."

"Ra-Cailum _to Shepard,_" Ron said over a comm link. "_We have an Asari here who just tried to kill me and hijack the ship. Goes by the name Morinth. You piss anyone off by that name lately?_"

Shepard blinked. "Not me personally, but I'm with an Asari Justicar who's been hunting her down - her mother, apparently."

"_Oh, thank God,_" Ron said. "_Give us your coordinates: I'll beam you aboard so you can deal with her._"

"Captain, this is Samara, the Justicar in question. Have you attempted to treat her-"

"_I know she's an Ardat-Yakshi, madam,_" Ron said. "_And no: the second she woke up, she threw a pissy fit. We had to use our phasers on maximum stun to knock her out._"

Shepard looked around to get her bearings, then told Ron where they were.

"_Locking on._" A moment passed before cursing was heard. "_Fucking dark energy fields. Could one of you shut off your mass effect generator? The safety locks on the transporter won't let us beam you on board with all that dark energy._"

Samara looked slightly sheepish at this. "…That would be my doing, Captain. I am a rather powerful Biotic."

"_Hang on._" A bang was heard. "_Energizing._"

The three disappeared from the surface of Illium, and reappeared in the _Ra-Cailum_'s Transporter Room.

In front of a rather annoyed Ron. "Ladies, my day has been ruined thanks to that Ardat-Yakshi," he said. "She nearly killed my cuttlefish with her biotic stunts. Now, would one of you take her off my hands and take her to a penal colony?"

"I do not know if she can be taken to a penal colony safely, Captain," Samara replied. "If she continues refusing treatment, it may be easier to…"

"Samara, the Federation does not execute its' prisoners," Ron informed. "Rehabilitation is our modus operandi, and the millisecond the Asari joined the Federation, you became subject to our laws. That being said, if she so happens to try and kill me again… all yours."

Samara nodded. "Personally, I am hopeful she will submit to the treatment," she said. "Her sisters… and myself… have submitted to the treatment and come out fine. Morinth… she has become addicted to the powers of an Ardat-Yakshi. Drunk on them. I wish for her to submit to the treatment… but I have to be realistic."

At this point, Ron adopted what had been universally termed the Gowron Face, complete with bulging eyes. "Time for brutal detox."

"…Why did he sound like that long dead Klingon chancellor?"

"No idea, but clearly, it's something he's VERY good at doing."

The captain smiled before using Samara's own voice. "Follow me, ladies."

Shepard's eyes widened. "You could likely make a living by doing impressions," she remarked.

"I already HAVE a living. It's clear as day, judging from my uniform." The captain left the transporter room, followed by the two human spectres and one Asari Justicar.

"I have seen a few Starfleet vessels, Captain, but they were… small in comparison," Samara informed.

"Oh, which ones?"

"The _Brattain_, the _Kirk_, and an _Excelsior_-Class starship named the _Lakota_. The crew did not seem proud of her."

"There's a damn good reason," Ron replied.

"Ship have a bad history?" Hitomi asked.

"Remember the _Raging Tempest_?" Ron asked. "That ship used to be the _Tempest_, before the new _Tempest_-class PTs came into service. _Tempy_ was a _Defiant_, and the prototype of that class fought the _Lakota_ back in '72. Layton's attempt at a coup d'etat, although that was less treason and more desperate act of patriotism."

"Ah," Hitomi replied. "And the _Lakota_ was on Layton's side, wasn't it?"

"Killed two people on the _Defiant_, but eventually blue on blue became too much to stomach. They stood down, and Layton was arrested. We did gear up for war with the Dominion, though, thanks to that son of a bitch."

"I did not know you were involved in a war… 40 years ago, by my understanding."

"We've recovered," Ron said. "We've got stronger ties with the Klingons then we did at the beginning of the century, which were pretty shitty thanks to the Undine, the Undine have stopped being total assholes and we're exploring the Delta Quadrant. All in all, better then we were doing before."

"And hopefully this means we can do better against the Reapers," Shepard remarked.

"Reapers. Speaking of which-"

"No, Commander, we are NOT doing it!"

The Ra-Cailum's captain sighed. "I'll be back," he groaned.

"The only reason that thrice damned project didn't blow up that Class-D planetoid was because it was a small-scale experiment! Don't you think we haven't explored EVERY option?!"

"Because you've been thinking too big," Jaden said, as before him, Sonja and Hikari were look over the specifications of the Genesis device. "I am very confident that the reason the Genesis Device failed to work on the Genesis world is because it was created using a Nebula, not an actual planetary surface. And even if that is not the case, as you just said, small scale testing worked."

Hikari played a short simulated video, showing a ship launching several Genesis warheads. "We want to recreate the small-scale testing results because of that," he said. "Instead of one single warhead to do all the work, I believe using several smaller warheads should allow us more control of the project, and prevent the same fate that befell the Genesis Planet."

"Genesis can too easily become a weapon!" Sonja retorted.

"So are Photon Torpedoes," Hikari mentioned. "A Photon Torpedo can do the exact same damage a Genesis Warhead can do. However, the difference between a Torpedo and the Genesis device is A. The Photon Torpedo would be Cheaper, and B. At least the Genesis can _create _life, and not just destroy it. If you banned Genesis because it could be used as a WMD, then by that same logic, your Photon Torpedoes should be banned as well. "

"We didn't ban it because of that," Ron said as he pulled up a file, showing the Federation Council chamber, all watching a screen. A number of Klingons were on the bridge of a Federation starship. "_9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1._" The bridge began to explode, and the images changed to outside the ship, which showed a _Constitution_-Class starship drifting downwards, before it showed the dorsal primary hull and the ship's identity: _USS Enterprise_ NCC-1701. The saucer exploded, and the image changed to that of a man in a 2278-2350s uniform, with the rank of Admiral.

"_Hold the image. I said 'hold!'_" A Klingon said as the screen changed to that of the Federation council room. "_...Behold! The quintessential devil in these matters! James T. Kirk, renegade and terrorist! Not only is he responsible for the murder of a Klingon crew, the theft of a Klingon vessel. See now the real plot and intentions. Even as this Federation was negotiating a peace treaty with us, Kirk was secretly developing the Genesis torpedo, conceived by Kirk's son and test detonated by the Admiral himself! The result of this awesome energy was euphemistically called 'The Genesis Planet' …A secret base from which to launch the annihilation of the Klingon people! We demand the extradition of Kirk! We demand justice!_"

Ron closed the file. "NOW I hope you get it," he said. "We abandoned Genesis because of its' instability, the political shitstorm it created AND because of the Klingons suspecting us to be making military installations when in reality we were trying to make terraforming faster! In the end, the Science Council ran enough simulations to show that no matter what we tried, Genesis. Would. Not. Work."

"But it _did _work with the small-scale testing, meaning that there was something being done wrong," Jaden said. "Genesis may've caused that shittstorm of politics, but that was a _LONG_ time ago, and I think the Klingon's would be more understanding now as long as they knew in advance what planets were being terraformed. Make it so a representative of the Federation and Klingons are present during each process. "

"Commander, if I injected you with poison, do you think you would survive?" Ron asked. "You would, if the dose was small enough for your body to take. Over time, your body would build up a resistance to the poison with regular injections. The same applies to protomatter, which is the key to the process: without it, it won't work. Problem is, a planet is not a living being. It has no resistances, no immune system. Genesis is a planetkiller, albeit a VERY unintentional one." He then paused for a moment. "What brought this up, anyhow?"

"The talks between the Quarians and the Geth have stalled." Sonja said. "Again. Jaden decided to look through the database to find an alternate solution."

"Me and Hikari just want to find a different way to make Genesis work." Jaden said, "If we can somehow find a way to make Genesis _work,_ we can make a world perfect for the Quarians to colonize and call home if negotiations between the Quarians and Geth go bad."

He sighed a bit as he looked at the Genesis simulation again. "The Takeo Family's known a lot of friends from the Migrant Fleet… hell, Hikari's mentor was a Quarian, taught her everything she knows. Considering the shit Cerberus did to the Quarians years ago, me and my mother want to find ways to make it up to them… especially considering how almost all council and terminus races consider Quarians as second-class citizens most of the time, being punished just because they made AI's purely by accident hundreds of years ago. "

Ron facepalmed. "Sonja?"

"Yes, sir?"

"The next time I pay a visit to the Migrant Fleet, I'm going to kill Xen," he said. "Where's Legion when you need him?" The Geth in question had left the _Ra-Cailum_ a month after Shepard's death. And with that, any hope of Starfleet successfully ending the Morning War. "I'm going to the starbase, and getting-"

"Captain, we're receiving a hail from Admiral Ushiromiya." Corpsa announced, "She wants to talk to you. And Commander Takeo. And Captain Yamato, for some reason."

Jaden sighed. "Well, we'll save this for later," he said. "Best not to keep the Admiral waiting."

"We'll deal with the Genesis problem later, if the cockbite to end all cockbites hasn't already started to research it."

* * *

Ange Ushiromiya was not a pleased person. "Captain, we picked this transmission up from near the former Batarian border 5 hours ago, and it's just now been brought to my attention."

"Why talk to me about it?"

She pressed a button on the desk. "_GET BACK HERE, YOU VULCAN WHORE!_"

"That's Ron's voice," Takeshi remarked.

"Wait… but if Ron's _here,_" Jaden said, glancing at Ron. "Who the hell's that over by Batarian Space?"

"_That _is what's really confusing a lot of us…" A voice said, as the others all turned around to see Flay walk into the room, now wearing the new MACO Battle Dress Uniform, a MACO-made version of the Alliance Battle Dress Uniforms "Considering how stretched our resources are now, we're hoping to head over there and see what the hell is going on."

"No, this is our problem." Ron said, "We'll deal with it."

"Speaking of which..." She accessed another audio file. "GET BACK HERE, YOU VULCAN BITCH!" Ron looked at Jaden, who also had a confused look as the voice sounded identical to his. "Either the Borg are doing this to screw with us-"

"It was on a Starfleet channel, Captain," The Admiral said. "The Borg don't have the ability to fake our security codes to this degree. Find out what exactly the FUCK is going on."

"Well, just another crazy mission for us," Jaden said, glancing at Flay with a smile. "You coming with us Flay?"

Flay smiled a bit. "Of course, Commander," she said. "I'm still technically under your command, after all." After Section 31 was revealed by Cain, it was agreed that Agents like Flay would go dark for a while until S31 could do some more damage control. Which was why now, Flay was a member of the Ex-Cerberus members of MACO under the Takeo's command, as a way to keep her safe from the S31 hunter fleets.

"Get your asses onto the _Ra-Cailum_," Ron ordered. "Takeshi, I hope you know the drill by now. If it's trying to kill us… kill it first."

"Don't worry, Ron, I know," Takeshi replied.

"Then let's get moving."

* * *

**Omega Nebula, 5.4 light years from Omega space station**

* * *

This area of space was perfectly worthless: no planets, no stars within range. The perfect place for the Collectors to test their new subspace rift technology. The Reapers barely understood the science themselves, despite the return of one of their own with the needed technology, and they were anything but willing to risk testing it with a Reaper. In short, they decided to let the meat shields that were cloned and repurposed Protheans do the job for them. And the tests worked. They had opened a rift into the other universe, and received several transmissions. At least, they thought so.

A moment later, a single Federation _Excelsior-_class Starship came flying through the rift, with the ID of USS _Enterprise,_ NCC-1701-B.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Captain Jaden Takeo shouted, as his ship came face to face with several unknown vessels, similar to the ones they had just fought on the other side of the rift. "T'Sani. what the HELL is going on here?!"

"No fucking clue, Captain!" T'Sani said, looking at her sensors. "But whoever they are, they're charging weapons!"

The Collector cruiser fired on the _Constitution_-Class starship, doing moderate damage to the shields and none to the hull. "Intimidator _to _Yorktown_: that thing doesn't have the same quantum signature as we do! Damn thing's from another universe!_" Soon emerging from the Rift came a vessel looking similar to a _Sovereign-_class, only with an added Nancelle with the IFF 'USS _Intimidator_ NX-99905'

"_Oh GREAT!_" Another voice said, as a modified _Neigh Var-_class Battlecruiser came through, alongside a _Sao Paulo_-Class Tactical Escort. "_ANOTHER Alternate Universe! What's it gonna be THIS time?!_"

"_No clue yet!_" came the reply of the Captain of the _Sao Paulo_… which was labeled USS _Raging Tempest_ NCC-108597. "_But Kim's telling me their shields are a lot weaker, and seem to be configured to defend against physical projectiles only!_"

"_Then use energy weapons and-_" Two more Federation starships arrived. One a _Sovereign_-Class, the other a copy of the _Raging Tempest_. "_What. In. The. FUCK?!_"

"Oh for the love of…" Jaden muttered. "_ANOTHER _parallel universe? Great… well, at least they ain't say'n ISS on their hulls."

The two ships opened fire on the massive vessel, unloading at least 30 quantum and a grand total of 130 photon torpedoes into it, causing the hull to crack up and split apart before the termite mound exploded, leaving no trace. "_This is Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the Federation starship _Ra-Cailum," a voice that sounded just like Ron's said. "_Your ships are unknown to us; please identify yourselves._"

Jaden blinked once. Then he blinked twice as he keyed the Comm to the _Intimidator_, _Vengeance, _and _Raging Tempest._ "Uhh… what do we say?" He asked.

"_I'll respond, kid,_" Ron said. "_This is Admiral Ronald Pinkerton of the Federation starship _Intimidator_. Identify YOURSELF._"

"_I hate it when I run into an alternate universe,_" the Second Ron said, as the image of the bridge of the _Ra-Cailum_ pulled up, revealing a near identical copy of Ronald Pinkerton… and to Jaden and Mirror Jaden's surprise, was a near copy of themselves, causing all three Jaden's to blink.

"What the FUCK?!" All three of them shouted simultaneously.

Both Rons began chuckling at that. "_Hope you were recording, Corpsa._" The _Intimidator _Ron asked.

"_I was, Captain._"

"_W-What?! I'm on that ship, too?!_"

"_Settle down! Captain, I want you, and your friends, on my ship in fifteen minutes. I want answers, and I want them now._"

"_You'll get them, so long as we get ours, Admiral._"

The link to the _Ra-Cailum_ cut out.

"Sir, permission to speak freely?" T'Sani asked.

"Granted."

"I'm getting too old for this shit."

"You and everyone else in the Task Force."

* * *

_**Later - Onboard the **_**Ra Cailum**

* * *

Ron wondered how the alternate universe thing just became… routine for Starfleet. He also wondered how long Jaden was going to keep wearing that stupid look on his face. Seriously, it wasn't as though he ran into his own ancestors. "Commander, you look like an idiot with your jaw hanging open like that."

"Just… what the FUCK man?!" Jaden said. "I mean, different universes, yeah I understand that, but… alternate universes where there's freaking TWO of me?!"

"We've dealt with weirder things than this." The airlock doors opened, and they were greeted by the Ra-Cailum's senior staff, only wearing 2278-2350 era uniforms. "Admiral."

"Captain." Admiral Ron said nodding. "Follow me: Captains Takeo are waiting for us in the conference room, as well as Captains Yamato."

Ron and Jaden both nodded, as they followed the Admiral Ron though the ship. "Well… this is definitely… different." Jaden said.

"I think Starfleet, on my side AND his, are quite used to meeting our counterparts from an alternate universe." Captain Ron said.

"Indeed, Captain." The Admiral said, "Of course, my Jaden hasn't had the experience I had. The 23rd Century was a wild time, as I'm sure you know."

Ron stopped. "Actually, I wouldn't." He said.

The red uniformed man looked back at him. "When were you born?"

"2371."

"Really? I was born in 2249. IDIC, indeed."

"Fucking Time Travel…" Jaden muttered, as they approached the door to the meeting room. "Is there anything Starfleet _hasn't _run into for you guys?"

Everyone decided to ruin Jaden's day. "No." The former Cerberus commander hung his head as they entered the conference room, finding everyone there. "Captains. Commander. Let's get down to the business of what the fuck just happened, shall we?"

"Yeah, let's," the Takeshi from this side said. "I mean, it's a little surreal to look across the table and see, well, me."

The Admiral sat down at the head of the table. "To recap our actions, while the rest of our task force went in for repairs, we detected a subspace rift." Ron said, "As our primary duty is to advance scientific knowledge, the functioning ships came to investigate. Then we get shot at by a massive fucking warship, and Jaden over there decides to go through and give them a piece of his mind."

"No one fucks with the _Enterprise-B _and gets away with it," Captain Jaden said. "Just ask the Hirogen and Tal Shiar."

"Then you'll sure as hell hate Cerberus here," Commander Jaden said, causing the others to blink. "The group I used to work with - a Human Survivalist group called Cerberus found the _Enterprise-B _from Ron's universe and well… Stripped her of Technology and Scraped her. "

"Keep reminding me, Commander." Captain Ron Growled. "Please."

"How the hell did the _Enterprise_-B end up in your - never mind, it's the fucking _Enterprise_." Admiral Ron said, "The weird shit always happens to them. Would you mind explaining why both of you have different quantum signatures?"

"That's because this Jaden is from a different universe than our Ron and myself," this side's version of Takeshi said. "I was on patrol up near the Northwest Passage when I ran into a firefight between the Borg and Undine, Ron showed up to help, a Borg Unimatrix ship showed up, did something to destabilize a Fluidic Rift, and we ended up in this universe. That was about two years ago, and we're able to travel freely between the universes with modified Transwarp Gates."

"Two years ago?" The Admiral asked, "What's the year now?"

"2412."

The _Intimidator's_ staff planted their heads onto the table. "Wonderful: alternate universes and time travel." He muttered. "I thought I had enough of that from the Mirror Universe."

"Mirror Universe?" Commander Jaden asked, "What, are you telling me there's _another _universe?"

"Yup." The Third Jaden in the Room said nodding, "And that's where I'm from. I'll spare Ron from needing to explain it but in short? Imagine a Universe where instead of the united, democratic Federation, You've got a united Dictatorship called the Terran Empire, and anyone who was good in your universe is evil, at least for the most part."

"So… there's an evil Ron on your side?" Commander Jaden asked with a groan. "Oh what the FUCK."

"It gets even crazier," the Takeshi from that side said. "My counterpart in that universe isn't just evil, she's female, and managed to manipulate us into killing their previous Emperor so she could claim the throne."

"Yeah, same here… well similar," Jaden said, causing the others from the new universe to blink. "Hitomi Yamato over here is apparently our Takeshi Yamato… only she's not an Empress of an Empire… she's a Marine for the System Alliance's N7 Program, though she and Commander Shepard have recently been brought into Starfleet."

"IDIC loves us." Admiral Ron muttered.

"Clearly, old man."

"Captain, you and I are the same age." The Admiral looked at Ron closely. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that eye's artificial. The fuck happened to you?"

"I got assimilated by the Borg; what do you THINK happened?" The others recoiled at that. "What did I say?"

"Yeah… we just had one hell of an encounter with the Borg… specifically one Assimilated Vulcan Bitch who's been plauging our families since the founding of the Federation," Captain Jaden said. "And… well one of her plans included trying to Assimilate either me or Ron."

"What was so important about him?" Commander Jaden asked, "Admiral or no-"

"He's a fleetkiller."

"Huh. Well, that's something to worry about."

"Have no fear. We killed her," the Admiral said. "Although I'm wondering why there isn't a Jaden Takeo from YOUR universe."

Ron shrugged. "I took the time to find out why two years ago." He said, "Apparently, his ancestor served on the Enterprise. He was a redshirt."

"KIA?"

"Against a certain cloud monster."

"At least we don't need to worry about FOUR Takeo's running around," Commander Takeo said, before he looked at Captain Jaden, who looked rather nervous "What?"

"Well, uhh… because of some rather… messed up things… some of our ancestors have appeared in modern times in our universe." He said, "So… we've kinda got three more Takeo's, two more Pinkerton's, and three more Yamato's Running around back there."

"Someone pulled a _Potemkin _out of their ass for that one."

"A what?"

"Long story. Regardless, I don't think we should be spending too much time on this side: Command is not going to be happy if we drag your problems into our universe." Ron scoffed. "Bit late for that: the fucking Collectors just found your universe while looking for ours."

"Collectors?" Captain Jaden asked.

"They're a group of insect-like aliens who are abducting human colonies from my universe," Commander Jaden said. "We believe they are working with the Reapers - a group of ancient AI constructs which exterminate nearly all life in the galaxy once every 50,000 years, doing so by leaving behind samples of technology, so that we would have no choice but to follow their technological path - one which the Reapers can predict, and prepare for… that was until Ron and Takeshi showed up."

The Admiral summed up how it ended. "You fucked them up."

"More then fucked them up, Admiral: these guys have NO deflector shields. Phasers go through their kinetic barriers like they aren't even there, and they use railguns that barely reach the megaton yield."

"Weapons that can barely dent your shields, considering it takes terratons of force to do it." The Admiral said. "Still, what happened?"

"We ran into a Reaper, beat the shit out of it, then I unloaded a volley of quantum torpedoes into its' ass."

"Yeah, but there are tens of thousands more of them on the way." Commander Jaden said, "Only now, they'll be getting help… Miss Idiot Rear Admiral Helena Cain was indoctrinated, and she gave the Reapers access to Federation-grade tech. The good news is, they can't really upgrade themselves too much, at best they can be on par with _Ambassador-_class Cruisers. But if they make newer Reapers built from the ground-up… then we have a problem."

The ones from the other side winced. "We can't help you," Admiral Ron said. "The Prime Directive applies to alternate realities as much as it does to ours."

"_Bridge to Pinkerton: we have a small task force inbound: a mix of Starfleet and foreign designs._"

Jaden groaned. "Speak of the Devil and ye shall appear," he muttered. "That's probably Cerberus and the Ex-Starfleet forces who defected."

"We'll find out soon." Admiral Ron said. "Get back to your ships: we'll deal with them when they get here."

"Time to kick the tires, and light the fires." Both Captain Jaden and Mirror Jaden said at the same time, grinning.

* * *

The _Ra-Cailum's_ senior staff returned to the bridge of their ship, but they were surprised by the lack of battle preparedness. "Report."

"The fleet is friendly, sir: it's the _Sunagi_, and five Asari cruisers."

"I guess they refit the fleet faster than I thought." Ron said, "Open a channel to the _Enterprise-B._"

"Channel open, Captain."

"_You rang, Captain?_" The Alternate universe's version of Jaden asked.

"Stand down, Captain: the fleet is friendly." Ron said. "Lead ship is the _Sunagi_, with five Asari cruisers trailing behind her."

"_Copy that, lowering alert. Letting the others know._"

The communications console began beeping. "Sir, we're being hailed by the _Sunagi_." The _Sunagi_ was one of the first _Eclipse_-class battleships ever built, and was on detached duty with the Asari fleet. "On screen."

The face of a Bajoran man appeared. "Captain Ghorm," Ron said, nodding. "A pleasure."

"_Captain Pinkerton. We detected three more Federation starships in the area. I decided to investigate._" "We're fine, Captain. In fact, our guests might be leaving so-"

The tactical console began blaring out warnings. "Sir, we have a contact incoming at warp speed!" Corpsa's eyes widened and her antennae went skyward. "Correction, five contacts! All _sovereign_-class Reapers!"

"Red Alert! All hands to battle stations!"

* * *

_**USS **_**Enterprise** _**NCC-1701-B**_

* * *

"Bring us back to Red Alert!" Captain Jaden shouted, as Klaxon alarms sounded. "Power to Phasers and arm Photon Torpedoes! Let's kick some Reaper Ass!"

The crew were trained for extremes by the local fleetkiller, but they were not ready for what they were about to encounter. "The hostiles are dropping out of warp speed. In visual range." The screen showed their foes: five very similar looking vessels, only they looked more like massive squid then starships.

"They look like oversized cuttlefish…" the Captain muttered. "Very… evil… Cuttlefish. "

The five ships picked their first target rather wisely: one of the Asari cruisers was fired on by a beam weapon, which hacked through the ship's kinetic barriers and tore the portside 'wing' off. "That wasn't a particle beam by normal standards," T'Sani reported. "I don't think they have much reason to-" the next shot hit THEM next, causing the century-old starship to rock and a console to overload.

"FUCKERS!" Jaden shouted, "Return Fire! Cut that fucking thing's arms off!"

The _Enterprise_ fired at the Reaper, hitting the massive ship, but not hitting the Reaper's hull. "Sir, they have deflector shielding!" The Reapers fired on the Enterprise again, and continued to pound the _Excelsior_-Class starship. "Sir, I'm not sure, but I think those things have a grudge against us!"

"Then return the fucking favor!" Jaden shouted. "FIRE EVERYTHING!"

The _Excelsior_-Class ship unleashed all of her weapons on the Reaper, pounding the cuttlefish-shaped vessel with enough firepower to nearly destroy it. The final blow, however, was delivered by the _Ra-Cailum_, which fired a full five quantum torpedoes into the damn thing. "Two for two, assholes! Who's next?!"

A growl was heard over the comm. "_**YOU HAVE DESTROYED ONE OF US, **_**ENTERPRISE**_**. YOU FINISHED WHAT YOU COULD NOT CENTURIES AGO. WE WILL DESTROY YOU IN TURN. YOU CANNOT STOP THE ARRIVAL.**_" The remaining four Reapers attempted to escape, but one caught a grazing shot from the _Intimidator's_ spinal lance before they jumped into FTL.

"The hell did we do to piss YOU guys off?!" Jaden shouted. "We just MET!"

The face of Captain Pinkerton appeared on the screen. "_Not your _Enterprise_."_ He said, "_Our B nearly killed a Reaper. They mistook yours for ours. And I think they might target your universe out of spite for your ship._"

Jaden groaned "Fan-Tucking-Fastic." He muttered, "Like we don't have ENOUGH problems to deal with..."

"_I'll send over our logs._" Ron said. "_In any case, we'll be heading back to Starbase Apophis. I'd invite you to join us, considering the situation, but that's not possible._"

"Why's that?" Jaden asked.

"_You don't have mass effect cores._"

"Mass what?"

"_Oh, fuck it, you're Starfleet, so I'm not breaking the rules,_" Ron said. "_Sonja, send over the data and the specifications._"

"_Aye, sir._"

"_If you want to pay us a visit, I'll see you in 21 hours. _Ra-Cailum _out._"

Jaden sighed. "Well, best get to work," he said. "Make sure the other ships get the Specs, and have our engineering teams get working."

* * *

_**Starbase Apophis - 2 hours later**_

* * *

"So, it was you, but from an alternate universe?"

"Yes, Admiral." Ron said. "Apparently, they discovered a trans-universal rift created by the Collectors. They crossed over, and a quintet of reapers tried to kill their _Enterprise_-B."

Ange shook her head. "I'm amazed the B survived on their side." She said, "I'm not sure if making contact with another UFP is… the right thing to do."

"They know about the other universe, Admiral." Ron said, "The Reapers will come through there, as well. I guarantee it."

"Besides, it's another Federation," Jaden said shrugging. "They can't be that different from the one from your universe, any help to take on the Reapers - especially now that we've confirmed they've been updated with modern tech - would be helpful."

Ange sighed. "I'll… forward the data to the Federation council," She said. "The choice is not up to me. Speaking of choices, the _Normandy_ SR2 left before you arrived. They've begun their little 'suicide mission', as Lieutenant Lawson liked calling it."

"Lieutenant Lawson?"

"We gave her a commission, in exchange for protecting her sister, Oriana," Ange said with a small smirk. "Their father's a bit of a prick. He has no idea how little corporate threats mean to the Federation. It's rather amusing."

"Yeah, one of the many pluses of having a money-free Economy." Jaden said, shaking his head "I'm still amazed you all managed to pull something like that off…"

"A question the Ferengi like asking themselves." Ange said, with a light chuckle before turning serious once more. "Now, we're sending you gentlemen into territory we know has a number of Cerberus bases. I want you to make them no longer exist. Save who you can, but leave nothing of those bases recognizable."

"Yes, ma'am."

She eyed Flay, standing in a corner. "As the SI attache to this side, you're going with him." She said, "Same with you, Commander. I want a full MACO force on the _Ra-Cailum_ for this mission."

Flay and Jaden both smiled at that. "You'll be getting a lot more than that," Jaden said. "The _Tarawa _is ready as well, they can deploy well over a Battalion's worth of troops on the ground at a moment's notice. Armor, Mechs and Infantry… this will also be a great time to test the new Crusaders."

"I don't care how you do it, just get it done." Ange said, "We've heard of some project from your new friends called 'Overlord'. And seeing as there was next to nothing besides the name in the information you gave us two years ago. Find it. Deal with it. I have to go deal with the Quarians and the Geth. Again."

The proper Starfleet officers left the office, leaving Jaden with Ange. "Commander, I'm going to be blunt." She said, "The only reason you are not in the brig is because of Captain Pinkerton. I don't trust you. The Federation Council doesn't trust you. The fucking President doesn't trust you. Abuse his trust and you will be spending the rest of your days regretting it."

"My mother figured as much," Jaden said. "That is why Ex-Cerberus is doing all we can to gain the Federation's trust, Admiral. We have done nothing but help the Federation ever since Ron helped us during our initial defection, and we shall continue to do so to defend both our galaxy, and yours from Cerberus, the Reapers, the Borg or anyone else who would threaten the peace. I hope one day the rest of the Federation will trust us as much as Field Marshal Mustang and MACO do."

"The only reason he trusts you is because you gave the good Admiral more people, equipment and resources to work with." Ange said, "The rest of us are more… cautious, considering where you got your original technology from." The rest of Starfleet were STILL pissed off about Cerberus and the _Enterprise-B_. It was perfectly justified, but still. "You're dismissed. Leave me with the OTHER headaches, please."

"Ma'am," Jaden said, saluting before he left the room. While he and the rest of Ex-Cerberus knew saluting was considered 'outdated' according to most of Starfleet, as Sutura puts it 'Old habits die hard', and still consider it a sign of respect.

"Don't take it too hard, Jaden," Flay's voice was heard, as Jaden turned to see the Red haired sister of Linda leaning against the wall. "Give her and the rest of Starfleet some time."

Jaden sighed. "Yeah, I know," he said. "I'm just glad MACO's far more friendly, would've made Ex-Cerberus's integration a lot more complicated."

"Field Marshal Mustang is a very reasonable man," Flay said, smiling. "He trusts you not just because of the resources you've given MACO, but he respects you, your mother, sister, and the rest of Ex-Cerberus as Soldiers. Once the rest of Starfleet realize the same thing he and I do… it'll make things a lot more easy."

Jaden smiled a bit, nodding as he approached Flay. "Yeah… I hope so, at least," he said, with a light chuckle. "Where would I be without ya?"

Flay smirked a bit "Ohh… probably several things." She said, as the two closed the distance as they then kissed. "But… I can't argue with the way things turned out."

"Neither can I," Jaden said with a chuckle, before they resumed for a bit longer.

Little did they know that Takeshi and Linda were peeking at them from around a corner.

"Well, I guess now we know just how close they've gotten," Takeshi remarked. "Hard to believe they've managed to keep anyone else from realizing it." He looked at Linda. "You going to give him the 'big sister' talk later?"

"Maybe."

"I'd do it sooner than later."

Both of them swiveled to look at the EXTREMELY stealthy pair from the Ra-Cailum. "Don't do that."

"Don't so what? give you advice on how to deal with your sister's suitors? My sister's had plenty of them."

"All of which you scared off just by looking at them, Ron."

"Nattie!"

Takeshi chuckled, before he said, "Actually, what we meant by 'don't do that' is sneaking up on us. Almost gave me a heart attack!"

Linda nodded in agreement with Takeshi's statement.

"Fine. The next time my ninja of a girlfriend decides to drag me out onto a starbase, I won't sneak up on you."

"You're bullshitting them."

"Yeah, like I'm going to not do it."

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**SR2 - en route to Omega**_

* * *

"So, our first two recruits are 'Archangel' and a Doctor Mordin Solus?" Hitomi mused.

"Yup," Shepard replied. "The former is a Turian: lost his squad to an assault, if the reports are correct. The other is ex-STG, an expert in all things medical."

"Dropping out of FTL now," Joker reported, as the Normandy reduced to sublight speed… in the middle of a firefight. "HOLY SHIT!" Joker had to do MANY fancy maneuvers to not get them killed.

"Report!" Shepard yelled.

"Klingon warship, _K'Vort_-class," Joker said. "Fucking thing nearly hit us! We've got a major shitstorm out there: merc-controlled ships are fighting the Klingons." There were hundreds of ships, all of various manufacturers, including Asari, Turian and Salarian, from frigates to full on dreadnoughts.

"How the hell did they get their hands on a Turian dreadnought?" Hitomi asked.

"With those guys joining the federation, they're putting all their older ships up for sale," Shepard informed. "If they can afford it, they can have it."

That was true enough. The older ships were perfectly shaped for warp travel, but they were not made of the right materials. Still, with Cerberus in chaos, getting second-hand Federation technology was easy, and thus, Aria T'loak was waging a war to keep her station from the Klingons.

"Still, the Klingons are practically a fusion of Krogans and Turians," Hitomi remarked. "I kinda doubt the mercs will be able to last forever."

"Oh, they won't with THAT monster out there!" Joker remarked, and both Shepard and Hitomi looked outside to find the Klingon counterpart to the Odyssey-Class: a Bortasqu'-Class dreadnought battlecruiser. A modified Turian cruiser fired its' new disruptor cannons at it, but the mighty battlewagon lashed right back, obliterating it.

"HOLY FUCK!" Shepard yelled.

"Yeah, I'll… get us docked," Joker said as he navigated the Normandy through the firefight.

* * *

_**Omega - Afterlife**_

* * *

To say Aria T'loak was angry would be putting it lightly - she was _livid._ Ever since the Klingons crossed over into their galaxy, it was as if they intended to bring all of the Terminus Systems under their control, taking world after world that was once under _her _control, now under _their _control. The only good news was that, thanks to their integration into the Federation, the Turians and other races were selling their older ships like Dreadnoughts for ridiculously cheap prices, which Aria was able to use to hold them off. Adding to the Starfleet tech they stole from Cerberus made them all the more effective. However now the Klingons were rolling in with their heavy-hitters, making life all the more difficult.

The _G'Jorg_ was the biggest pain in her blue ass, as that was the name of the massive _Bortasqu'_-Class superdreadnought outside, and although life on the station was as normal as it was going to get, with the Klingons sending boarding parties over via the mines. In hand-to-hand, the Klingons one-upped everyone on the station. Only carefully laid ambushes and a LOT of bullets kept them from taking over the station. She was still not pleased. Added to the fact there was some type of epidemic going on in the lower areas of Omega affecting only humans, and the Vigilante Archangel making her life even worse… it had not been her week.

"Would it be… just TOO MUCH to ask… for A LITTLE HELP?!" Aria Shouted, slamming her fists into the desk.

"Aira, we've got a ship docking with the station," A Batarian Guard said, looking at his Omni-tool. "It's ID'd as… that can't be right… it says its the SSV _Normandy_!"

Aira stopped for a moment, glancing at the guard. A small idea hit her as she finally smiled. '_Well, I suppose luck _does _pull through every now and then._' she thought. "Give them permission to dock," she said. "But make sure the Commander visits Afterlife as soon as possible… She may be able to make our lives a bit easier."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

The Cerberus-built/Starfleet-Alliance-operated frigate had only docked minutes before, and the Spectres had barely set foot onto the station when a pair of Batarians grabbed them (gently, as though to say 'we're not going to hurt you, we just need you to meet someone') and dragged them into a nightclub that had been clearly repurposed.

Shepard and Hitomi looked around as they were brought before an Asari. "I take it you're in charge here?" Shepard asked the Asari.

"That's right, Commander. I'm Aria T'loak. I…" The Asari looked around the club. "Was the undisputed, if unofficial, queen of this station, as well as the Terminus systems. Now… the Klingons threaten that."

"I see," Hitomi replied. "To be honest, we're here to recruit a couple of people for a high-risk op. We know the name of one - a Doctor Mordin Solus - but the other person we're looking for is simply called Archangel - and I don't know about you, but that seems like an alias to me."

"Then you're in luck," Aria replied. "I want Archangel off this station. Originally, I wanted him dead. Now? I just want him gone. Tell the guards at the siege that I sent you and that you're there to get Archangel for your suicide mission. As for Solus, he's in the quarantine zone. You want to go in there, have fun."

"Thank you very much," Hitomi replied. "What do you think, Nicole? Might be easier to split up and recruit both at once - main question is, who goes to recruit Archangel and who goes to recruit Solus - and who do we bring with us from the ship?"

"I'll handle getting Archangel," Shepard replied. "It's just one Turian: how hard could it be? You take Miranda and Jacob and deal with Mordin."

"Then I'll get them over here," Hitomi said. "God knows we have little to work with right now."

"If you're done, please get moving," Aria said. "I need the mercs at the siege to get into the fight with the Klingons. The more time they waste with the Turian bastard, the more men we lose to him and that damned sniper rifle."

'_That sounds familiar…_' Shepard thought as they left the nightclub.

* * *

And once she'd gotten to Archangel's safe house, she knew why it was familiar.

Archangel was Garrus fucking Vakarian. The poor bastard had taken a rocket to the face, his once blue armor was blackened to the point where it might as well have been made black, and… There was a massive pile of bodies at the only chokepoint into the safehouse. Leonidas would be proud.

"Good to see you again, Garrus," Shepard remarked.

"Good to see you, too, Shepard," Garrus replied. "I thought you were dead."

"Cerberus brought my ass back from the dead, then Starfleet found me."

The Turian chuckled. "Oh, that's good."

"We need you, Garrus. The Collectors are hitting human colonies. I need to best."

"A failed cop turned merc killer? One of the best?" Garrus chuckled. "I'll get my helmet. And the mercs-"

"They're pissed, but they'll let you go."

"Good to hear," Garrus remarked. "Guess Aria's wanting to focus more on the Klingons."

"You have no idea."

* * *

The vorcha had been a pain in the ass, but after… directing them towards the Klingons in the lower levels, Hitomi had dealt with the plague in the quarantine zone. Now she was en route with Mordin Solus, plus one extra. "Hope this ship of yours has a good goddamn armory: Jessie's been needin' a major overhaul for a while now."

"Oh, it's got an armory, Zaeed," Hitomi replied. "In fact, after we stole the ship from Cerberus, we spent a few days refitting her on Illium - that armory is outfitted with up-to-date Starfleet Tech."

Zaeed Massani smirked. "Oh, goodie. I've been wantin' to try one of those Starfleet phaser rifles for… well, since we made contact with them Federation bastards. One of those things and me can only cause one thing."

"And what's that?"

"Arma-fucking-geddon!"

Hitomi giggled. "We'll let you see what you can do with them," she said. She then turned to Mordin. "The lab's equipped with modern Starfleet Tech, as well, Doctor Solus, so you should have everything you'll need."

"Of course," Mordin replied. "Starfleet technology superior to STG by leaps and bounds. Only Cerberus and Reaper technology hope to match. Can't, for reasons you already know."

An explosion rocked the station, and Zaeed groaned. "Fuckin' Klinks are shootin' at the station again."

"This happens a lot?" Hitomi asked.

"Yeah, every goddamn day," Zaeed informed. "Trying to make Aria piss her pants."

"Well, let's get back to the ship and make our way out of here in case they decide to stop holding back, and go for a full assault or invasion."

"Indeed."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- en route to Valhallan Threshold**_

* * *

"So, what are we expecting?" Jaden asked.

"Space station, maybe." Ron said, "Dropping out of FTL now."

The _Ra-Cailum_ dropped out of warp, alongside the _Hercules, Tarawa,_ and _Raging Tempest_. However after dropping out of Warp, what they found was not a Space station… but rather an entire M-class Planet.

"What. The. Fuck." Ron muttered.

"Sir, that's-"

"Not supposed to be here," he said. "Report!"

T'var began scanning the planet, dating it using the ship's sensors. "According to this, the planet is less then three months old."

"That's impossible." Ron said, "Class-M planets need billions of years to… oh, HELL no. Those Cerberus RETARDS."

"Son of a bitch…" Jaden muttered. "TIM got Genesis to Work… but for how long…" he glanced at T'var. "What's the status of the planet? Any abnormalities like the ones from the original Genesis world?"

"The planet is beginning to show signs of instability." She said, "The original planet was just as old when it began to happen."

"And?"

"I am picking up signs of multiple detonations." The Vulcan said, "It appears they tried what Commander Takeo suggested."

"And it STILL doesn't work."

"GODDAMNIT!"

"_I'd say Technology's going to have to advance a lot further before Genesis can be tried with more long-term success,_" Takeshi remarked. "_That is, if what happened with the first one and what we're seeing now don't result in a permanent ban on the research._"

Ron shook his head. "Jaden, Flay, Sonja, with me." He said, "Suit up and get your asses to the shuttlebay. We're going to find out what in the hell's going on down there. Takeshi, you too: get a team ready."

"_Roger,_" Takeshi replied.

* * *

The Type-9 cargo shuttle left the Ra-Cailum's main shuttlebay, with Sonja at the controls. "The mission is simple: find out what the hell is going on down…" he looked at Jaden, who looked like he was sulking. "Commander?"

"Fucking TIM stole my fucking idea… even if it didn't work…" He muttered, "I'd sue his ass if we weren't gonna kill him when we find him."

"Genesis research was banned for a reason," Sonja said. "We just aren't… advanced enough for it."

"This coming from the most technologically advanced people I know." Jaden retorted.

"We can't create perfect copies of people from a transporter signature." Ron said, "That's the sort of computer technology we need to make Genesis… not do this. We are not going to have that for a VERY long time."

"Who knows," Jaden said with a sigh. "Technology and Science have a habit of advancing faster than we expected. New discoveries are made sometimes when we least expect them. The discovery of the Mass Relays jumped humanity's technology by over 200 years, whos to say there won't be another discovery like that sometime in the future? You know… _without _the race of sentient AI Dreadnoughts seeking Organic destruction."

"We'll find out when we get there." The shuttle touched down, and the rear hatch opened.

"_This is Doctor Gavin Archer to whoever just landed! Please respond! We have a rogue VI attempting to access the communications dish!_"

"This is Captain Ronald Pinkerton. What in the hell-"

"_No time! Destroy the dish!_"

Ron tapped his commbadge. "_Ra-Cailum_, target the communications dish. Phasers only."

A moment later, an orange beam of Nadion Energy destroyed the dish.

"_Oh, thank god. That should slow it down. The entire facility is overrun with Geth. I've locked myself in a control room, but I can't get out until they've been dealt with._"

"We'll take care of it. Pinkerton out." Ron looked at Jaden. "He's Cerberus; any idea who he is?"

"The name sounds familiar," Jaden said. "If I remember correctly, Dr. Archer and his brother were one of Cerberus's top researchers in the field of VI and AI development. Not much else than that… Lucy was created using a method Amy came up with, seperate from his research."

"Clearly. The drill is simple, much to my loathing. If it's synthetic, kill it."

* * *

The killing was not as simple as they thought it would be. Archer was NOT kidding about the geth. And when Ron lost his rifle (he would be bitching about it for WEEKS afterward) he pulled out his oversharpened kilij and began to rampage throughout the facility. He still hadn't come back.

Takeshi was doing well against the Geth with his sword, as he sliced one of them in two. Turned out that was the last one in the current batch, giving them a little breathing room. "So… Jaden…" he said. "We need to talk."

"One sec…" Jaden shouted as he climbed on the back of a Geth Prime, jabbing his Omni-blade into its head before shoving it into its center mass, causing the Prime to fall forward dead. "And Stay dead! Anyways, you were saying Takeshi?"

Linda walked over to them. "You see, Jaden, as we were leaving the Admiral's office back at Starbase Apophis, something had me and Takeshi hang back a bit rather than head to our ship… and we saw your conversation with Flay after you'd left her office, yourself… and how it ended," she said.

Both Jaden and Flay blinked at that, before both blushed bright red. "Oh… uhh… well…" Jaden muttered. "Shit…"

"If you want to court her, that's fine," Linda said. "Just remember, if you make her cry in sorrow or pain for any reason, they'll never find your body. Am. I. Clear?"

"F-Fine! Fine!" Jaden said, waving his hands while Flay giggled slightly.

"Over Protective as always, Linda," she mused.

"Could be worse," Takeshi remarked.

An explosion was heard before a Geth Prime, holding a compression rifle, namely Ron's, ran into the main area before a very angry Ron ran in and used his overly sharp weapon to hack it in half before retrieving his rifle and shoving the sword into the Geth's head. "Never. Touch. My. Gun."

Takeshi chuckled. "Ron, how'd the rest of the base look?" he asked.

"My revenge is complete. The assholes have learned not to TAKE MY GUN."

"Well..." All eyes turned to a man wearing typical Cerberus colors. "You're all as effective as I've heard."

"Doctor Archer." Ron said, "You have exactly 30 seconds to start explaining what in the fuck is going on here before I order General Order 24 on this exploding planet's ass!" The building shook at that.

"Damn, we don't have much time…" Archer said. "Come with me, I'll explain on the way."

"So, who's bright idea was it to use Genesis, Doc?" Ron asked. "There's a REASON we abandoned the research."

"We thought we could control the reaction, and we used the equal mass to Earth in asteroids to create the planet," the Doctor said. "But that's not Project Overlord's purpose."

"Then what is it?" Jaden asked.

"To control the Geth."

"Dismal failure, if that was the goal."

"I made a mistake, Captain," he said. "We can't get to the central research post without unlocking the accessway. And that requires unlocking it from three locations on the site."

"Or we could simply beam into the facility." Ron suggested, but Archer shook his head. "We put up transporter inhibitors to prevent that."

Ron groaned. "Fine, option B: we use the shuttles and fly in."

"Should work," Takeshi replied.

"We rigged up a shield to prevent that, Captains."

"Easily solved," Ron said. "We have a _Sovereign_-Class starship in orbit."

"Planetary bombardment?! Are you insane?!"

"Planet's already fucked, so why not?" Ron said as he tapped his commbadge. "_Ra-Cailum_, is there a facility on the planet's surface that has a high-power shield grid?"

"_Yes, sir._"

"Open fire: I want that shield gone." Ron looked at Archer. "YOU are coming with us."

Archer nodded, and the group headed for the shuttles. As they walked, Takeshi said to Jaden, "Not much I can say that Linda hasn't already - plus, I know Flay can make her own choices." He then grinned. "Just make sure you two use protection if you do _that_, alright? I'm not quite ready to be an uncle yet."

Jaden blushed again. "S-Shut up, Takeshi…" he muttered as he sped up his walk to keep up with Archer.

Takeshi chuckled. It was fun sometimes to tease his friends about their love lives - he just rarely had a target other than Kim and Mogire, who had begun a relationship about three years ago, even if they were keeping it quiet. Takeshi and Linda were among the few crew members who knew about it. But now with Jaden and Flay, he had a new target for his teasing.

The ground shook again, reminding them that the planet was most definitely in its' death throes. "Let's get to that research facility before we get killed, shall we?"

* * *

The trip to the research facility where Overlord was being developed was one involving a great deal of lava. The planet was breaking apart, mostly because of the protomatter used to create it. "AA defenses are useless against Starfleet shuttles," Ron said. "And I'm picking up a human lifesign."

"_What's a human doing in the middle of all those Geth?_" Takeshi asked.

All eyes turned to Archer. "I think I know." The _Ra-cailum's _captain scowled and pressed several buttons. "What are you doing?"

"Reinforcing the shields and structural integrity, then going to full impulse."

"Wait, you're not going to-"

"Fuck yes I am."

The shuttle dipped down and shot towards the facility.

"You're insane!"

"Didn't Cain give you the memo?!"

The titanium shell of the facility stood no chance against the shuttle as it ran through it, setting down near the core.

"WHOA!" Jaden shouted, "THAT was awesome! But let's NEVER do it again."

"The day you outrank me, brat," Ron said as he looked out the forward viewport and saw something he did not like. A human body, attached to a lot of machinery that looked like cybernetic interfaces. "ARCHER! I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME A REALLY GOOD FUCKING ANSWER AS TO WHAT THE FUCK I AM LOOKING AT!"

"It's a fucking fuck overload." Sonja said.

"I'm glad you find THAT amusing, Commander!"

Jaden glanced at Archer, his eyes narrowed. "You'd best start talking before I beat Ron to the punch," he growled out.

"It's my brother, David; he could talk to the Geth!" the Doctor said. "What was I supposed to do?!"

"That's it," Ron said. "Watch him. I'm freeing that poor boy."

"What?! Captain, don't!" the Doctor said as Ron left the shuttle, drawing his kilij in the process. "NO! DON'T!" Ron hacked through the restraints and everything connecting David to the machines, screaming as he did so.

"You fucking bastards are no better than the Reapers AND the Borg!" David fell from the supports, and Ron sheathed his weapon before carrying him into the shuttle. "TAKE OFF, NOW!"

"Come on, go go go!" Jaden shouted, as a geyser of Lava shot up from under the Research Station. "This planet won't last much longer!"

"All ships, stand by to go to warp the millisecond we're on board!" The Genesis-created planet began to break apart, with the two shuttles barely getting to their motherships in time. "GET US OUT OF HERE!" The fleet jumped to warp, just as the planet exploded, turning it back into a collection of rocks.

Jaden sighed a bit. '_It'll work…_' he thought. '_One of these days… we'll get Genesis to work…_'

"Doctor Archer, as of this moment, your ass is ours. You are under arrest for crimes against humanity, as well as unlawful and unethical research. Admiral Ushiromiya will deal with you back at the starbase." Archer seemed uncaring. Maybe he thought he deserved it. Ron didn't care.

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**SR2 - en route to Horizon**_

* * *

The Alliance and Starfleet had just lost contact with the colony on Horizon, and thus the SR2 sprung into action.

Along with Samara, Garrus, Mordin, and Zaeed, they'd also picked up a Tank-Bred Krogan who had taken the name Grunt and a Biotic named Jack with a grudge against Cerberus. Mordin had also managed to come up with a countermeasure against the Seeker swarms.

"I hope we can save the colony this time," Shepard remarked. "This is the first time we know what we're up against, and why the colony's likely gone silent."

"I'm more worried about Ashley and Kaidan," Hitomi replied. "I've checked the records, and they settled down on Horizon as reservists after they got married."

"We'll worry about them when we get there, unfortunately. EDI, contact the _Ra-Cailum_, just in case a Collector ship shows up."

* * *

Kaidan and Ashley Alenko were hiding with their young child from the seeker swarms. "The Alliance can't get here in time," Kaidan remarked. "We're going to have to fight these things ourselves."

Ashley cradled their daughter, barely six months old, in her arms. "Yeah…" she said. "We'll have to be careful, though - I don't want little Nicole to grow up without her mother _or_ her father."

They then heard a voice. "_**ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.**_"

Both reservists stilled. "Oh, crap," Kaidan muttered. "That's-"

"_**YOU ARE SHEPARD'S SQUAD. THIS WILL HURT YOU. AND HER!**_" The Collectors had found them. Correction. Harbinger the Reaper found them.

The two began opening fire as Collectors came at them in droves. They were doing their best, but they knew they couldn't hold out forever.

"_**WE ARE THE HARBINGER OF YOUR ASCENSION, KAIDAN ALENKO.**_"

"Go to hell, Harbinger!" They had an advantage with a choke point, but they had limited thermal clips. Luckily, they were about to get reinforcements.

* * *

"Spread out!" Shepard ordered as the team leapt out of the Kodiak. "Find any survivors and get them the hell out of here!" The sound of gunfire was the first sign of resistance, along with falling bodies. "Hitomi, with me; everyone else, secure the colony!"

"Got it, Nicole!" Hitomi called out as she drew her Revenant Assault Rifle. One advantage of the upgrades Miranda gave them was that Hitomi had gained access to advanced Marine Training in addition to her Vanguard skills, while Shepard had gained Sentinel-type Biotics to go with her Infiltrator abilities.

"_**WE ARE YOUR ASCENSION. EMBRACE IT.**_"

"Go fuck yourselves, Reaper!"

"Hey, asshole!" The sole glowing Collector looked back. "You missed."

"_**SHEPARD!**_"

Shepard fired her Widow rifle into the Collector's head, decapitating the creature.

"Shepard?!" Ashley asked.

"We thought-"

"Think later; shoot NOW!" Shepard told the two.

"We'll explain everything once we get these assholes kicked off of Horizon!" Hitomi added, firing her Revenant into a cluster of Collectors.

"_**THIS IS NOT OVER, SHEPARD.**_"

"It's over for you, Harby!" Hitomi yelled as the Collectors began retreating, but the two continued sending pot shots their way. "AND STAY DEAD!" Both women looked at the married couple.

"So, was anyone expecting the Spanish Inquisition?" Shepard asked.

Ashley smiled. "Good to see you two, even if we're still wondering how you're still alive," she said.

"We'll explain later," Hitomi replied. She then noticed the little bundle still being carried in Ashley's arms. "You're parents now, too, huh?"

Ashley nodded. "Her name's Nicole, and she just hit six months old a few days ago."

"…Oh…"

"Ra-Cailum _to _Normandy _ground parties,_" Ron's voice said over Shepard's communicator. "_I assume you're still alive down there?_"

"We're fine, _Ra-Cailum_," Shepard replied. "We've got Collectors down here. That was quick."

"_We're not in-system,_" Ron replied. "_The _Ayalde _is en route, and is boosting the transmission. We'll be there in fifteen-_" At this point, he was interrupted.

"_**PINKERTON. YOU WILL SUFFER FOR YOUR ACTIONS. NAZARA WILL BE AVENGED.**_"

"I take it you killed another Reaper, Ron?" Shepard asked.

"_No. The only Reaper I've killed is Sovereign. Nearly killed another one a couple of days ago, but they ran the fuck off. We'll be there in fifteen._"

The other married couple shook their heads. "I REALLY want to hate you, Shepard," Kaidan muttered. "You dragged us into a war that we don't want to fight. We have a child, for God's sake."

"I didn't drag you into anything," Shepard replied. "The Reapers did." A rumbling sound was heard. "The Collectors must be leaving."

"Collectors?" Ashley asked.

"Aliens from beyond the Omega-4 Relay," Hitomi explained. "They seem to be working for the Reapers, and they've been abducting human colonies in the Terminus Systems for a while now. Horizon was just the latest target." Hitomi watched as a ship ascended into the atmosphere, her eyes narrowing. "And if that ship is any indication, they're the ones who blew up the _Normandy_ SR1 and killed Nicole and I two years ago."

Ashley's eyes narrowed at that, as Kaidan said, "Yeah, still wondering just how you're still alive."

"We'll explain as we move," Shepard replied. "We should make sure no Collectors are still around."

"_**THIS WILL HURT YOU!**_" A biotic energy blast forced the four and toddler to take cover.

"Do they have a personal grudge against you?!" Kaidan yelled.

"They have a personal grudge against ANYONE from the _Normandy_!" Shepard replied. "You would've been targeted, regardless!"

"That's not comforting!" Ashley remarked.

"Never said it was!"

A phaser sweep vaporized the Collectors in the air as a Type-6 shuttle came in. "_Shepard, this is shuttlecraft _Shamshir_. We're your air support, Commander: pick a target._"

"Where's your mothership?"

"Currently getting revenge."

* * *

Meanwhile, in space, the _Normandy_ SR2 and _Ayalde_ were fighting the Collector Cruiser.

While the SR2 was more lethal than she used to be, the older _Ambassador_-class _Ayalde_ proved to be the biggest, baddest son of a bitch this side of the galactic core, as the Collector cruiser was having the living shit beaten out of her. Clearly, the captain had a bone to pick with the Collector warship, as the _Ayalde_ rescued the _Normandy_ survivors two years prior, and attempted to avenge the lost frigate.

"SR2 to _Ayalde_!" Joker called out as he whipped the _Normandy_ around for another pass. "If you can keep its attention, I think I can do some major damage!"

"_Copy that,_" the _Ayalde_'s captain replied. "_Our shields can take the pounding; yours can't._" The Ambassador's phasers lashed out at the Collector ship, and the response from the insects was clear as the forward weapon fired on the Federation starship. The _Normandy_ returned the favor, hitting the Collector ship in the ass, keeping it from escaping.

"This is for the original _Normandy_, you SOBs!" Joker yelled as he hammered the Collector ship with everything the SR2 had - Dual Phaser Beam Banks, Quad Phaser Cannons, and a volley of Quantum Torpedoes. Combined with the fire from the _Ayalde_, it was too much for the Collector Ship to take.

"_Cease fire! We're not here to destroy that thing. Yet. _Normandy _ground team, we've disabled the Collector cruiser and are towing it into higher orbit._"

"_Understood,_" Shepard replied.

"_We've also confirmed that it's the same ship that killed the SR1. Admiral Ushiromiya will want intel on the collectors. Ready for transport on your order._"

"_Got it,_" Hitomi said. "_A couple of reservists living planetside will be joining us._"

"_Locking on now: dark energy patterns are going to make this difficult. We're beaming you in on the port side, far from the ME core. And whatever else is in there._"

"_Understood,_" Shepard replied. "_Energize when ready._"

* * *

**USS** _**Ra-Cailum**_

* * *

The _Ra-Cailum_ had diverted from Starbase Apophis to head straight to Horizon, as the _Ra-Cailum_ had more experience with the Collectors than the rest of the fleet. The boarding party were all wearing EVA suits, and armed with phaser rifles, compression and standard. "We board the ship, we get the intel, and whatever colonists the bastards managed to get off the colony," Ron said. "After that, ship go boom."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Jaden said, as he placed the helmet on of the new MACO power armor, inspired by the Ex-Cerberus armor and the MACO armor used by Omega Force, taking the best of Ex-Cerberus tech and MACO tech together making an easy to use and manufacture combat power armor. "Let's get some payback for Freedom's Progress."

"Right," Flay said as she put on the helmet of her own version of the armor.

"We're not here for revenge," Ron said. "If there's a need for it, it's for the SR1. No one fucks with my people."

"We are within transporter range."

"Energize." The assault team beamed out, and were deposited on the starboard side of the ship, with a great many pods surrounding them. "Holy shit."

"So… this is a Collector ship…" Jaden mused, as he drew his Assault Rifle. "Sadly, this is just what I was expecting… very bug-like."

"Atmosphere?"

"Class-M, and nominal. We're good."

"No one touch a fucking thing unless I say so, and keep your helmets on." A weering sound was heard, followed by a familiar voice. "_**ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.**_"

"Shit! Harbinger!"

"Take Cover!" Jaden shouted, as he and Flay dived over some cover, just as a platoon's worth of Collectors appeared, firing their Particle rifles at them, lead by the Harbinger-possessed Collector. The two rose up and opened fire on them.

"_**WE ARE THE HARBINGER OF YOUR ASCENSION. EMBRACE IT. YOU, PINKERTON, WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE.**_"

"Go fuck yourself, Harby!"

"_**NAZARA WILL BE AVENGED.**_" Ron fired his phaser rifle at the Harbinger-Collector at maximum, vaporizing it. "Who the fuck is Nazara?!"

"Well," Jaden said as he fired his own assault Rifle into the mob of Collectors, his shields taking several hits before he ducked for cover again. "Maybe Nazara is Sovereign? He _is _the first Reaper you killed, after all."

"Oh. Sovereign was harder to fight, Harby! You're a fucking pussy!"

"_**I WILL BREAK YOU, PINKERTON.**_" The Reaper-controlled Collector charged at the away team, clearly pissed off. "Universal rule: if it's sentient, you can make it angry."

"And that's a good thing?!" one of the team members with Ron asked.

"If you can get someone angry, normally they don't think as clearly," Flay replied. "Makes it easier for them to make mistakes."

Harbinger ran into a phaser beam, getting vaporized seconds later. "Like that." The Collectors began retreating from the team's superior particle-based weapons, which they had no defense against. "Come back! We're not done with you yet!"

"That's right you mothers! RUN!" Jaden shouted, as he and Flay fired upon the retreating Collectors. "Without Harbinger you're a bunch of Pansies!"

"_Captain, this is Shepard. Are you killing everything over there?_"

"There is NOTHING not trying to kill us. So, how's your day been?"

"…_Do firefights always make you more cheerful?_"

"They bring out the best in me. Anything I need to know?"

"_We've made our way to the core of the ship - we're attempting a data download now with EDI's help._"

"Keep us inform… oh, shit." Hundreds of muzzle flashes in the distance got their attention. "COVER!" The away team took over from the massive number of bullets coming their way, and Ron looked at Jaden. "NOW what?!"

"Give me a second." Jaden said, as he glanced over the cover, and blinked as he saw what appeared to be Turians… only they obviously were _not _Turian's anymore. He was forced to duck when they opened fire again "They look like Turian Husks!" He said, "Only these guys actually can use Guns!"

"You know what? Fuck this. _Ra-Cailum_, photon torpedoes. Vent these fucking things into space!"

"_Torpedoes away, sir. Hang on!_"

* * *

The Collector ship rocked from several impacts and explosions. "What the fuck was that?!" Ashley yelled.

"I think Ron might have had the _Ra-Cailum_ deal with his opponents with torpedoes," Hitomi remarked.

"Isn't that… I dunno… overkill?" Kaidan asked.

"Maxim 37," Jacob replied. "'There is no "Overkill". There's only "Open Fire" and "I need to Reload".'"

"Overkill or not-"

"_**SHEPARD.**_" Many guns were pointed in the direction of a Reaper-controlled Collector. There was ONE problem. It wasn't shooting at them. "_**YOUR RESISTANCE IS HOPELESS. WE ARE THE HARBINGER OF YOUR SALVATION AND YOUR REBIRTH INTO IMMORTALITY. EMBRACE IT.**_"

"Tell that to the Borg."

"_**THE BORG. THEY ARE SUPERIOR TO YOU AS WELL. WE CANNOT CONTROL THEM. BUT WE WILL MAKE THEM ASCEND.**_"

"OK, you keep talking about 'ascension'," Hitomi said, "and I'm really confused. How does wiping out races like the Protheans and the races that came before them count as 'ascension'?"

"_**YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND. WE ATTEMPT TO SAVE YOU FROM YOURSELVES. YOU CAN ONLY UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU ASCEND.**_"

"Yeah, the Borg have the same message," Shepard replied. "In the words of ron, go fuck yourselves." That was a subtle hint to open fire and kill the Collector/Reaper. Which they did. "EDI? I need an update."

"_I have the information you requested, Commander. You may not like it._"

"Just tell us."

"_The Collector's were running baseline genetic comparisons with their species and Humanity._" EDI reported.

"Are they looking for similarities?" Shepard asked.

"_I have no hypothesis on their motivations._" EDI said, "_All I have are the preliminary results. They revealed something remarkable. A quad-strand genetic structure, identical to traces found from ancient ruins. Only one race is known to have this structure - The Protheans. _"

"Fucking Collectors are goddamn Protheans?" Zaeed asked. "That's a nightmare."

"_They are not Protheans, Mr. Massani. They have undergone significant genetic rewrite._"

"Give us the rest of the intel later, EDI," Shepard replied. "Right now, I want to get the hell off this ship." The Collector cruiser shook again, likely from torpedo impacts.

"Was that the _Ra-Cailum_?!" Ashley asked.

"Ra-Cailum _to all away teams: the bitch is back! The _Quran _just entered the system and is firing on the Collector ship!_"

"Oh, great," Hitomi remarked. "We've got to get out of here!"

"_Mass effect core is offline. Lifesign number is decreasing: the _Quran _is beaming off the kidnapped colonists._"

"Why?!"

"I don't know or care: stop her!"

"_It is too late: the colonists are already on board the _Quran_. They are now attempting to destroy the Collector vessel._"

"_Ra-Cailum_, beam us off of this thing now!" Shepard called out. Seconds later, they all disappeared from the ship in columns of light.

* * *

The Collector warship began breaking apart under the weight of fire laid upon it by the _Odyssey_-class superdreadnought, despite the efforts of the _Ra-Cailum_ and the _Normandy_ to get them off the Collector ship's ass.

"This is getting ridiculous!"

The Collector ship finally exploded, and with its' duty complete, the _Quran_ turned and ran toward the relay at maximum warp.

"After her!" Shepard yelled, her team having been beamed onto the _Normandy_'s Bridge.

"We can't! That thing's faster then every ship here! They'll hit the relay and be gone long before we can catch up!"

The main reason for the Odyssey-Class remaining the most advanced ship they had was its' warp drive. The damn thing could go to Warp 9.9999967, which was pretty damn fast. Even the Vestas had a hard time keeping up, and ME FTL had no chance of catching them.

Shepard knew that. That did not mean she liked it. "DAMN IT!"

"Why the heck did she grab all the colonists and then blow up that thing?" Hitomi asked. "Just what is she up to?"

"I don't know, but I want three Odysseys there when we finally take the bitch on. The Tempest and the Ra-Cailum, too. We need all the firepower we can put to bear on that bitch."

* * *

_**Rogue Starfleet USS **_**Quran** _**\- en route to Omega 4 relay**_

* * *

While Cain was working with Cerberus, her 'true masters' were the Reapers. as such, when the _Normandy_, _Ayalde_, and _Ra-Cailum_ disabled the Collector ship, she 'rescued' the colonists. And, in order to make the Reapers' lives so much easier, she decided to begin cloning the colonists. After all, a Reaper needed millions of people to be born. Eventually, the Federation Council would see this, and would allow the Reapers membership.

* * *

**Normandy** _**SR2 - Briefing Room**_

* * *

"And that's pretty much where we stand right now," Hitomi finished, she and Shepard having just finished explaining the entirety of the situation to Kaidan and Ashley, including how she and Shepard had been brought back to life.

"Considering the weird shit Starfleet's done over the years, that's… actually believable," Kaidan remarked.

"Well, I don't think Starfleet's done EVERYTHING," Jaden replied. "They haven't gone into another galaxy-"

"They have."

"The end of the uni-"

"Yes."

"…You've got to be FUCKING KIDDING ME!" Everyone was enjoying Jaden's reactions far too much to be good. "Time travel, alternate universes, getting sent into other galaxies, coming back from the dead?! What HAVEN'T you people done?!"

"Come up with the perfect beef sub?"

"…ARGH!"

"Anyway, we need to face down the Collectors in their home base, that means finding some way past the Omega-4 Relay," Shepard remarked. "We'll also need to recruit more people - I want to be as well-prepared for this as I can get." She turned to Ashley and Kaidan. "I know you two just wanted to settle down, and you have your daughter to think about, but I could use your help again."

"We really don't want to, but…" Ashley began.

"Horizon's not an option anymore," Kaidan informed. "We'll have to leave Nicole with Ashley's parents, as much as I don't want to. We'll need someone to take her back to Earth."

"Easily solved: the _Ayalde_ can take her back." Ron said. "The _Ra-Cailum_'s heading back to Illium, and we're expecting more company."

"More company?"

"We're going after a dead Reaper."Ron said with a smirk before glancing at Jaden. "While we get ready, Jaden, Flay, Field Marshal Mustang wants to speak with you - the USS _Eichhorn_ is in the system and awaits you and Miss Allster's arrival."

Jaden and Flay both nodded. "Yes sir," he said. "We'll report over there immediately."

* * *

_**Later - **_**Devron**_**-class Dreadnought USS **_**Eichhorn**

* * *

A few minutes later, Flay and Jaden both were transported off of the _Ra-Cailum,_ and onboard the current flagship of Starfleet Military Assault Command Operations. "MACO certainly has gone up..." Flay commented after they finished transporting. "Field Marshall Mustang use to be in command of the USS _Spartacus_, an older _Ambassador-_class."

"Well, with Ex-Cerberus support and resources, and with the news of the Reapers, Cain's task force, and Loyal Cerberus, Starfleet is giving us a few more capable vessels." A voice said, as the two turned to see a man standing before them, wearing the blue version of the Starfleet uniform, who saluted them. "Commander, Lieutenant."

"Major Hughes." Jaden said, nodding as the two stepped towards him. "Good to see you again."

"And you Commander," Major Maes Hughes said, nodding with a small smile. "Come on, Roy's waiting for us. We've got a lot we need to discuss, and not a lot of time to discuss it."

"We weren't exactly expecting the _Eichhorn_ to show up." Flay said.

"Well, we heard reports of the _Quran_ being in the system, and damaged or not, she's still an _Odyssey_," Maes said. "Our phaser lance might've been needed."

"It wasn't," Jaden said with a sigh. "They ran at maximum warp. The _Ra-Cailum_'s faster than this ship, and they didn't even bother."

Hughes shrugged. "Well, there is only one thing that can catch that ship." He said.

"Stop it from running in the first place," Jaden said nodding. "I was hoping to deploy Warp Inhibitors in our next engagement, prevent the _Quran_ from running again. The problem is going to be finding good enough bait that would get Cain and Cerberus curious enough to bite."

Maes blinked at that, but nodded. "Well, I WAS going to say another _Odyssey_, but that works too," he said. "Starfleet command and General Mustang have a tempting target in mind. We just need to lay the trap."

The three stepped out of the turbolift, as they entered the bridge of the _Eichhorn,_ the crew of the vessel all wearing the MACO version of the Starfleet uniform. Sitting in the Captain's chair was none other than the leader of MACO himself - Field Marshal Roy Mustang, or General Roy Mustang depending on who you asked. A man both feared and respected among many races, especially the Klingons who often referred to Roy as a Klingon born as a Human.

"General." Jaden said, as he and Flay both saluted as the General stood up, returning the gesture.

"At ease," He said, "Good to have you onboard, Commander. Sorry we were too late to assist with the _Quran._"

"We'll get her next time sir," Jaden said. "We've been cooking up a plan which should allow us to take care of Cain once and for all, and we may have something."

"Oh?" Roy asked, "My office please." The three nodded as they followed Roy into his office on the side of the bridge, closing the door behind them. "What is your plan, Commander?"

"We are hoping to catch Cain in a trap using Warp Inhibitors," Jaden said. "The _Quran _is faster than anything we currently have in our arsenal, and she's using that to her advantage to avoid going on a head-on fight with us. Her ship isn't at 100% since she had to conduct repairs using what Cerberus already possess. We force her into a fight on our terms, we can take her out once and for all. The only problem is finding bait tempting enough to have Cain and Cerberus risk sending the _Quran_ out to take."

"Captain Pinkerton thinks he has the right target." Roy said, as he hit a few commands on his table. A massive station, roughly twice the size of a _Lya_-Class starbase, appeared as a hologram near the center of the bridge. "We think that is the collector base. The Captain's submitted the idea of taking it over, and using it as bait for the Collectors. And… as an outpost for the true Section 31's operations in this universe." Mustang knew about S31, and like Ron and the President, knew they were a necessary evil. Cain just needed to be put down for their image to quietly fade away.

"Sounds perfect," Jaden said nodding. "Secluded, out of the way, and located at a place no one in their right mind would ever go. No ship has ever passed beyond the Omega 4 Relay and returned. It's like the Bermuda Triangle of the galaxy, and I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to go into the center of the galaxy, filled with black holes, stars going supernova… the likelihood of there being any area in there where life could be supported is slim to none."

"Yes, that is what S31 and MACO are hoping for," Roy said. "Which brings us to one of the other reasons I've brought you here. Have you ever heard of the first Numbus III incident?"

Jaden thought about it for a moment "If… I recall correctly, it was when a Vulcan hijacked the _Enterprise-A_ for some religious quest," he said. "Says James Kirk managed to retake control of the ship, defeat the hijackers."

"That's the official, abridged version," Roy said, leaning back. "The whole story is that Vulcan - who was Spock's half-brother going by the name of Sybok - was attempting to use the _Enterprise _to enter the center of the galaxy to find… God, believe it or not."

Both Jaden and Flay blinked at that "God?" Jaden asked, as he glanced at Flay who shrugged.

"Hey, I may have been S31, but that doesn't mean I knew _everything _they do." She said.

"Either way, Sybok actually succeeded," Roy said, "The _Enterprise-A _was capable of safely entering the center of the galaxy, any ship which had entered before it were not made the same way the _Connies _were back then. They passed though, and believe it or not… they found a planet - Sha Ka Ree. According to Pagan Vulcan mythology, it was analogous to the human conception of Eden, the Klingon Qui'Tu, and the Romulan Vorta Vor, from which all creation was said to have originated."

"And I have a feeling that's not what it was at all," Jaden said, and Roy chuckled slightly.

"Indeed," he said. "As it turned out, Sha Ka Ree was apparently some type of Prison, for a malevolent alien entity which had manipulated Sybok into providing it with means to escape - the _Enterprise._ Of course, the entity was destroyed by a Klingon bird-of-prey which followed the _Enterprise _through."

"So… Starfleet has officially killed God?" Jaden repeated, before he sighed. "I just… goddamnit, this shit shouldn't surprise me anymore…"

"The Klingons don't know about the planet." Roy said, "The _B'rel _went against orders when he followed the _Enterprise._"

"Honor demanded his silence." Flay said, and Roy nodded.

"As such, the planet is officially in Starfleet's hands," he said. "Thing is… Starfleet has had no idea what to _do _with the planet since its discovery. While we discovered it has large deposits of natural resources and such, we did not want to announce the existence of a planet at the center of the galaxy, especially given the rather high tensions with the Klingon Empire at the time."

"And now?" Jaden asked.

"Now… the Federation sees a tactical use for Sha Ka Ree for our conflict with both the Reapers, and the Borg," Roy said, smirking slightly. "They are officially handing Sha Ka Ree into the hands of MACO, as they want us to turn it into what you may call a Fortress world. A place where MACO can freely manufacture Starships designed solely for combat, a world with defenses just as strong as the Earth Defense Grid, and capable of maintaining a massive garrison of soldiers ready to deploy whenever the Federation needs them most."

Jaden and Flay's eyes widened a bit at that, and Jaden grinned slightly "I like the sound of that," he said. "Our fortress among the stars."

"One of two." Roy said, once again causing them to blink. "We believe that your universe, Commander, may have its own Sha Ka Ree within the galactic core. If that is the case, there is a possibility your universe has its own version of the same entity. To play it safe, the Federation wants our ship to head into the center of the galaxy. If the entity is not present, we will transform your Sha Ka Ree into your Universe's Fortress world, to aid in your defense against the Reapers. If it _is _present… and if it is just as malevolent as ours… we deal with it, and _then _transform the planet for our needs."

"I'm in," Jaden said, almost instantaneously.

"Good," Roy said. "Now, I'm going to put in a call to the _Ra-Cailum._"

"You know what she'll do, general."

"What?"

A chirp was heard moments later. "Ra-Cailum _here._"

"Captain!" Roy said. "Could you please put Riza on?"

"_Oh, I'm going to enjoy this. Go right ahead._" A hologram of Riza appeared, then slapped the General before disappearing. "_Thanks, General! Have a PLEASANT day._"

"Ron, me and Flay are joining the General on a mission," Jaden said. "We'll be back later, don't end the Collector's without us!"

"_Knowing our luck, we won't be done dealing with those assholes for a while,_" Ron said. "_Have fun. Pinkerton out._" The transmission ended, and Jaden looked at the general.

"What?" Roy asked.

"She slapped you." Jaden asked, "Why?"

"I wanted to date her," Roy said, shrugging. "I was a BIT too forward. Then her brother caught wind of it. Never assume regular fleet aren't as good as the MACOs at hand-to-hand: that son of a bitch put over 30 of my people in sickbay when he found out, and ALL of them were the best trained men and women here."

Jaden sighed, shaking his head. "That's Ron for ya, alright…" he muttered, before he smirked. "But anyways, we'd best set course for the center of the galaxy… oh I am SOOO going to enjoy this…"

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"Ok, kiddies, the plan is simple," Ron informed. "The _Normandy_ will head straight for the Reaper. WE will go pick up Tali."

"Haestrom is a former Quarian colony, and under Geth control," Sonja explained. "The star's too young to be turning into a neutron star: someone fucked up with their mass effect fields."

Corpsa looked at her CO. "And what about the _Tempest_?"

"They get to deal with the Omega 4 relay: we're sending them through first to contain the situation over there."

"Hopefully it won't be too bad," one of the other Bridge Officers remarked.

"His piloting skills aren't at your level, Riza," Ron continued. "I'm transferring you to the Raging Tempest to take over piloting duties."

"Understood."

"We pick up Tali, then we head for the _Normandy_. Riza, get to the _Zambezi_ and report to the _Raging Tempest_."

* * *

_**The Great Barrier**_

* * *

The _Devron_-Class cruiser hung near the barrier, which was rather intimidating, now that Jaden thought about it. It looked much… bigger in person. Though Jaden wasn't afraid… in fact he was a bit excited about this. He would be the known first being (from their universe, excluding Reapers and Collectors) to enter the center of the galaxy.

"You ready, Commander?" Roy asked the Ex-Cerberus commander.

Jaden nodded "Yes… Let's do this," he said, as he smirked slightly.

"Helm, full ahead!" Roy ordered. The 641 meter long starship shot into the barrier, and they barely noticed the shuddering. "I thought the ride would be more bumpy."

"The last time you went to Sha Ka Ree, sir, you were on an _Excelsior_-Class starship," Maes said.

"True." The Devron breached the barrier, and they got their first sight of the ME version of Sha Ka Ree. Like the prime counterpart, the planet seemed to be wrapped in blue fire. The only difference was the sight of the edge of a black hole, over 50,000 lightyears away. Too far to be dangerous. "Well, prepare a shuttle for launch."

"Well, let's get this over with." Jaden said as he headed for the turbolift. "Let's have a little… _chat _with God."

* * *

The Type-11 shuttlecraft, named for the 'father of the American tank corps', approached the surface of the planet as if on autopilot. "No hands?" Jaden asked. "Really?"

"I'm not in control," Roy said. "Neither's the computer. Besides, that's why we're going down by shuttle: we need to manually target the damn thing if it's alive. And to do that-"

"We need to draw him out of hiding," Jaden said, nodding. "Let's just make sure we get back in time for the fireworks."

The shuttle landed on the ground, near the rocky outcropping where 'God' had appeared in the other universe. "Time to kill God." Jaden said, rather cheerfully as the door to the shuttle opened.

"How many men can claim they have?" Roy asked, as the away team left the shuttle, and the same thing as last time happened: massive rocks surrounded them when they were far enough from the shuttle.

"_You have come far… in search of me._" A rather elder voice spoke.

"Oh, we've come far, alright," Jaden said. "So… is this the voice of God here?"

"_One voice, many faces,_" God said, as a bright light appeared before them, and after switching through several faces, an image of an elderly looking man appeared before them. "_Does this face meet your expectations?_"

"Meh… close enough I suppose," Jaden said. "So… God Almighty, eh?"

"_Yes, it is I. The journey you took to reach me could not have been an easy one._"

Jaden rose an eyebrow at that, doing whatever he could to avoid openly smirking. "Of course… but wouldn't you already know that?" he asked. "After all… you _are _Omnipresent, afterall."

"_Of course,_" God said, "_Yet it is still magnificent. You are the first to find me, after all these years._"

"Seems so." Jaden said, as he glanced around. "So… where's Jesus?"

"_Excuse me?_" God asked.

"Jesus, you know? Your son." Jaden said, his hands clapsed behind his back. "The one who died for our sins, that guy. Oh wait, are we doing the thing where technically speaking _you _are Jesus? Sorry, the Bible was pretty vague on that I think."

"_Of… course._" God said, "_He and I are one._"

"Oh good, good." Jaden said, "So, tell me God almighty..." his eyes then narrowed. "What the _fuck _man?"

"_Umm… excuse me?_" God asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"What. The. FUCK. MAN." Jaden shouted again, "If you're god, why the HELL did you give us such vague orders and commandments! I mean jesus-fucking-christ, do you have any idea how many different interpretations there are of the Bible? Last I checked there was about 41,000 or so different denominations of the same fucking book, and not once - NOT ONCE did you decide to come down, and set the fucking record straight? You know, confirm the whole 'controversy' with Gay and Lesbian marriage, say weather or not that's okay, or you know, tell us if eating Pork makes us 'unclean' or not!"

"_It was all part of my plan-_"

"OH Your fucking PLAN!?" Jaden shouted, "What happened to free will, huh? If we have free will, then you can't have a plan!"

"_My plan was to test you to-_"

"SOME FUCKING TEST!" Jaden shouted once more, interrupting God yet again. "If you were a fucking teacher God, I'd have your ass fired for incompetence! The point of a test is that the problems and answers are always the same. But if you give easier questions and answers to one set of students, and a bunch of Quantum Physics questions to another set, that's not fucking fair now is it?! One kid born in New York to a rich family never has to deal with poverty, always living in the life of luxury, while in Africa children are starving, looking for fucking _ANYTHING _to eat. How is that fucking fair? Is the little boy suppose to pray you'd send him some food? I bet you a LOT of kids prayed you'd give them some food, and I bet most of those kids ended up dying cold, hungry and alone because apparently you weren't listening!"

"God, _You _can go fuck yourself." Jaden said, "You've done nothing but hamper the progress of not just humanity - but the progress of _every _sentient being in our galaxy, and possibly even this universe. In fact… I doubt you're even a God to begin with. In fact… no… your just another wannabe benevolent all-knowing all-powerful being… but you're not. You're just a trapped monster in a cage… and it's time to put you out of your misery." He then hit his wrist-mounted PADD - which was linked directly to the ship's fire control. He tapped one command, and the _Eichhorn_ fired its first Photon torpedo into God's face.

"This is for the Crusades!" Jaden shouted, before another Torpedo was fired. "That was for repressing scientific advances for hundreds of years during the Dark Ages!" Another Torpedo. "This is for letting the Vatican get away with ridiculous shit!" Another Shot. "That was for making Creationists!" Fire five. "That's for making those damned church hymns I CAN'T GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" And again. "AND THIS IS BECAUSE YOU JUST PISS ME THE FUCK OFF!"

A final shot came in the form of the ship's spinal lance hitting the form of 'God' as his image faded.

"Feel better?" Flay asked.

Jaden let out a long, happy sigh as he turned around, and Flay could swear he was boasting the largest smile she had ever seen him give. "Flay… I feel like I'm on top of the fucking universe right now," he said. "I… have basically single-handedly killed GOD. This is worth at LEAST a century's worth of gloating. Now… to head back, and tell Ron and Takeshi… you _were _recording this whole thing, right?"

"Yup."

"Perfect."

* * *

_**Meanwhile - with Ron and Takeshi**_

* * *

"_Runabout _Zambezi _has departed from _Ra-Cailum," the ship's communications officer reported.

"Confirmed, _Ra-Cailum_," Rina replied. "Good luck."

The _Ra-Cailum_ jumped to warp, and the Danube-Class runabout landed inside the _Raging Tempest_.

Takeshi sighed and fidgeted in the Captain's Chair. "I can understand Ron's reasoning," he remarked, "but that still doesn't mean I'm comfortable having to sit in the center chair while someone else takes the helm."

"I've seen her record," Linda replied. "She can outfly anyone and anything. Even you."

The door opened to the bridge, and in came Riza Pinkerton, holding a PADD. "Captain Yamato, I need your thumbprint on this."

Takeshi looked it over - a fairly typical temporary crew transfer document. He applied his thumbprint to the file, then handed the PADD back to her. "Good to have you aboard," he said. "And do you think you might be able to give me some pointers? I don't want to have Ron sending you over here every time delicate flying is required."

"Just let me do my job, Captain." She walked over to the helm, shaking her head. "Frankenstein paid the helm one hell of a visit."

"Always preferred manual controls," Takeshi replied. "I know they have a Manual Steering Column installed in just about every ship, but the Manual Impulse Throttle gives you a bit more control over your speed than the standard LCARS."

She began removing the central column. "Having to reach for the column is a pain in the ass. Besides, didn't you study the blueprints?"

"Commander?"

"Computer, activate manual steering column." A flight stick emerged from the right side of the console. "We took hundreds of lessons from the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and you want to double back to the P-51 Mustang. Retract column."

Takeshi blinked. "I see… well, my point still stands on the manual throttle - LCARS just doesn't give you as precise speed control, I've seen."

"You just aren't fast enough," Riza informed. "And I'm too fast for the column: I break shuttlecraft." She began tapping on the controls, heading for the Mass Relay. "Contact in five."

"Sir, it takes you ten to turn this thing around when we're standing still," Matt said. "She spun us around in four!"

The _Raging Tempest_ hit the relay, and was heading directly for the Omega 4 relay.

"ETA to Omega, 15 minutes," Riza reported.

Takeshi blinked. He'd had no idea she was 'too fast for the column'. "I guess another reason I always preferred Manual Controls was… with LCARS, I never really had the feel of being one with the ship. You're just pressing buttons with LCARS, but with manual controls… It's about the closest I can describe to the ship becoming an extension of, well, me."

"I can't teach you how to do this: reflexes are instinctive. It's one of the reasons I don't fly anything this small." She began working the helm, increasing the ship's speed. "ETA to Omega, 2 minutes. You didn't do much to improve the ship beyond adding a few extra components. It's like the ship just came stock out of the yard."

"You kidding?" Matt asked. "MACO-Rated Impulse Engines, Adapted MACO Deflector and Shields, and a Vector-Built Hyper-Charged Warp Core, not to mention the best Pulse Cannons out of the Morgenroete Factories, and that just counts as adding a few extra components?"

"Believe me, Commander, those are nothing compared to the shit we have on the _Ra-Cailum_," Riza remarked. "Then again, cruiser-types are better equipped for the best equipment." The _Sao Paulo_ dropped out of FTL and shot toward the Omega 4 relay. "I'm rerouting all available power to the deflector dish."

"Commander, you're not an engineer-"

"Unlike you people, I went to every course at the Academy and I know what this ship is capable of better than all of you. Stand by for contact."

"Red Alert, all hands brace!" Takeshi ordered. "This Relay's obviously different from any of the others, so be prepared for anything!"

The ship made contact, and Riza's hands moved almost as fast as Data's. "Speed is decreasing. Hang on!" The ship dropped out of FTL short of a massive debris field, with large masses being pushed back away.

"The debris field is massive," Kim reported, "at least 2.14 lightyears in radi. I'm detecting a large station in near the edge of the black hole. It's the collector base."

"Take us in, Riza," Takeshi ordered. "Tholra, be ready on weapons - I want to make sure Ron and Shepard don't have anything too nasty to deal with when they get here."

"I have a contact on sensors: roughly 20 meters, spherical," Kim reported. "It's a Reaper construct." The ship shook for a second. "And they're firing on us."

"Tholra, give me control of the forward pulse cannons and torpedo launchers," Takeshi ordered. "Barking back orders to you is too slow. The arrays and aft launchers are yours."

"Understood."

The _Raging Tempest_ pulled an extremely tight turn, then fired her pulse cannons at one of the oculi, obliterating it. "One down, three more above us. Lieutenant!"

"Firing!" the Xindi-Reptilian announced as the topside Phaser Array lanced fire through the drones, one by one in rapid succession.

"Heading for the base," Riza reported.

"Captain, we have a friend coming at us," Kim informed. "It's the Collector cruiser: the same one that destroyed the Normandy SR1."

"Commander, take warp drive offline," Riza ordered.

Takeshi nodded in affirmation, though he was just as confused as Matt as he did as instructed. "We masking our signal from them or something?" Takeshi asked.

"No." She began pressing on the LCARS controls.

"Sir, she's diverting ALL of the energy from the warp core to the pulse cannons!"

"Time to see what that ship can take." She pressed the fire button, unleashing terawatts of energy from the cannons, which literally BURNED the rocky hull away, bit by bit. "HOLY SHIT!" Matt yelled. "I DIDN'T KNOW THIS SHIP COULD DO THAT!"

"Just goes to show you how much you know your own ship." Riza replied.

"Alright, as soon as we're done with this mission, we are going to some desolate, unpopulated system, and seeing what this thing can do with the safety regs thrown out the window," Takeshi remarked, eyes wide. "Riza, we'll likely have you and Ron and your ship with us, for some pointers as well as in case we accidentally break anything."

"Worry about it later," Riza replied. "Firing torpedoes." A spread of 6 quantum torpedoes left the forward launchers, and the Collector cruiser broke apart like an egg. "That, you assholes, was for the SR1."

The _Raging Tempest_ took from a beam impact. "Well, looks like they weren't alone," Kim reported. "Two more cruisers just launched from the station; one is en route to a Mass Relay."

I can either turn to engage or take out the closest one: we can't do both," Riza informed.

"Take out the one heading for the Relay," Takeshi replied. "Don't want it going for help or raiding any other colonies. Tholra, work with Riza on this: I want an Alpha Strike on that thing."

"Hang on: this maneuver usually broke the _Defiant_-Class training ship's back back at the Academy."

"Wait, WHAT?!" The _Tempest_ literally FLIPPED over, then shot toward the retreating cruiser. "Firing phasers." The supercharged pulse cannons tore into the Collector ship's rear end, causing a massive explosion and destroying the ship. "It usually takes us using torpedoes to do that."

"You have sensors, don't you?" Riza asked. "Scan an enemy ship, find a weak point and exploit the hell out of it! You don't need to be a science ship to do that."

Takeshi blinked. "_**Definitely**_ need to do some thorough testing and training with you and the _Ra-Cailum_ once we deal with the Collectors," Takeshi remarked. "Anyway, now that that's done, engage the other target - let's mop them up and get some more recon done."

The _Raging Tempest_ gently banked toward the remaining Collector ship, or what they THOUGHT was the remaining ship: two more had deployed from the station and were out of weapons range. "You have got to be fucking KIDDING me."

"According to sensors, there were six docking ports," Kim reported. "We've taken out three."

"The _Quran _took out one; we killed the rest."

"Argue later; kill it NOW!"

"We can't take out the other two: they're out of range, and if I take us any closer to the accretion disk, WE'RE fucked."

"Take out the one that's _**in**_ range, then," Takeshi replied. "Kim, keep an eye on the other two."

"Targeting. firing pulse cannons." The Raging Tempest fired its' now-VERY overpowered pulse cannons at the closest Collector ship, tearing it apart in seconds as the pulses tore the ship apart.

"So, where did you learn how to do this?" Takeshi asked.

"The Academy," Riza replied. "While you were probably screwing around, I was studying the blueprints of the _Defiant_-Class. I know the limits of every starship in the fleet."

"Overachiever, much?" Kim asked. "Or is that normal in your family?"

"Look at my brother," Riza replied. "I followed his example." The _Raging Tempest_ spun around again, heading for the Collector base.

"The rest of the Collector ships are gone," Kim reported.

"Where are they heading?" Takeshi asked.

"The relay."

Takeshi swore. "And not enough time to go after them… we'll continue our recon for now."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum** _**\- en route to Haestrom**_

* * *

"I'm not comfortable without Riza at the helm."

"None of us are, Captain." With the temporary loss of their helmsman, Sonja had been forced to take the helm, and her piloting skills were less than stellar. Then again, making standard orbit was easy. "Sensors?" Ron asked.

"Picking up multiple Quarian lifesigns, but with the star's dark energy output, we can't beam anything out of there." Corpsa said.

"Send two shuttlecraft and four of our Peregrines on strafing runs, in case there's anything down there." Ron ordered.

"You'd be right." Corpsa said, "There are two Geth dropships down there, and the Quarian team is under attack."

"Then tell the parties to get ready for a fight."

* * *

_**Later - Haestrom Atmosphere**_

* * *

A pair of Type-7 Shuttles descended through the atmosphere of Haestrom, along with the escort of the four _Peregrine-_class Fighters. "_That sun's generating a lot of heat,_" one of the pilots announced, "_I wouldn't want to be caught in that sun's rays for long, probably would burn my face off._"

The two shuttles landed near the Quarians' position, with a Geth armature firing on the Starfleet shuttlecraft. As usual, though, mass effect weaponry was useless against the deflector shields. "Peregrine flights, bomb the shit out of them."

"Coordinates locked. Firing."

The Peregrine Fighters flew over the area, firing their Phasers and dropping Light yield Photon Bombs over the target area, utterly destroying the Geth Troopers and the Armature in one quick bombing run. "_Boom. Targets destroyed._"

"Get out there, people: I want those Quarians recovered safely."

"Aye, sir."

A rocket hit the side of the shuttle, and Ron sighed. "Marine, STAND THE FUCK DOWN! WE'RE STARFLEET!"

A helmeted head poked out from elevated cover. "Shit. Sorry, sir! I'm a little on edge." The Quarian limped out of cover, as well as a few others.

"That's fine. Name and rank, Marine?"

"Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet marines," Kal said, with a short salute. "Thanks for the assistance sir… wasn't gonna last much longer."

"Our pleasure. We're actually here to pick up Tali."

"I'm right here, captain." The door to the sealed building opened, and out came Tali, holding a Geth pulse rifle.

"Nice gun."

"I… acquired it," she said. "Captain, why exactly are you here?"

"Shepard's going to be attacking the Collector base," Ron said. "We want you on her team."

"I managed to get her story back on Freedom's Progress," Tali replied. "So, she managed to swipe that ship from Cerberus?"

"The _Normandy_ SR2. Pretty-looking ship. Better proportioned than the SR1. We'll give your team transport back to the Migrant Fleet, then take you to the SR2."

"_Captain, we're receiving a hail from the _Eichhorn_. It's Jaden._"

"Pipe him through: let's see what the man has to say."

The first thing he heard was a chuckle. "_Ron… you will NEVER guess what I just did._" He said.

"I can guess, kid. We've done a LOT of shit."

"_Ever killed God before?_"

Ron was about to speak, before Jaden's words processed through his mind. "Wait… _what?!_"

* * *

**Later - Onboard the **_**Ra-Cailum**_

* * *

"-_AND THIS IS FOR JUST PISSING ME THE FUCK OFF!_" The Recording said, before a _Eichhorn's_ lace shot through God's face, resulting in a spectacular explosion on the screen, as the crews of the _Ra-Cailum_ and _Normandy _watched in surprise and disbelief at the scene.

However, the resident Borg realized exactly what happened. "So, you pulled a Kirk out of your ass."

"What?"

"I have the sum knowledge of the Borg Collective, kid: I have ALL of the classified information on the Nimbus III Incident. So you killed God. So what? Kirk did it first."

"_Actually, that was a Klingon bird of prey who did the final blow._" Jaden said as he shrugged "_But you make it seem as if I care - I am officially among one of two people who KILLED GOD! _"

"You get a planet, I get to deliver a Quarian team to the Migrant Fleet." Ron said, "We'll be heading for the Collector base in six hours. We're going with or without you."

"_Got it. I need to do a few things though - gotta grab some things for the mission. I'll be over at Omega 4 on time, don't worry._"

"Sonja, take us to the last known location of the Migrant Fleet."

"Got it, got it. Have I ever told you how much I hate being at the helm?"

"A great deal. We'll see you there, kid. Ra-Cailum out."

* * *

**Ron the True Fan: Well, say hello to the Collectors. And say hello to them getting completely FUCKED UP.**

**117Jorn: And they killed God, don't forget that :D**

**Takeshi Yamato: We've got a bit more in store for the Collector Base, so stay tuned.**

**Ron the True Fan: See you boys next time!**

**Ja Ne!**


	6. Chapter 5 Drums of War

**Ron the True Fan: Do I LOOK like Gene Roddenberry, or that I work for Paramount or CBS?! Tell the bloodsucking lawyers to piss off!**

**Takeshi Yamato: We also don't own Mass Effect, or anything else that might make a cameo in this story… what can I say, I love importing things from other franchises and tweaking them to fit the destination! It still belongs to whomever created it, though.**

**117Jorn: We just own our characters and their shit. HIT IT! :D**

* * *

**Later - Earth (ME-verse) USS **_**Eichhorn**_

* * *

After a short jump through the Relays, the USS _Eichhorn_ arrived at the Earth of the Mass Effect universe, quickly heading towards the new space docks which had been built in-orbit. As the _Devron-_class approached, they could see many vessels of both Alliance and Starfleet make being constructed. The new Alliance vessels were quite a sight, while looking just like old Alliance Dreadnoughts and Cruisers like the _Everest _and _Kilimanjaro-_class (even including some of their features and such), the new Alliance vessels had been constructed with Starfleet-grade technology upon their gaining membership, and could easily stand on par with most standard vessels of the Federation, Klingons, or Romulans.

"The supplies we requested have been brought here," Roy said. "They've been placed on one of the two new ships being built."

"New ships?" Jaden asked, "I wasn't aware of there being any new ships being built aside from the new _Kilimanjaro IIs._"

Roy smirked a bit "Oh, just a little something MACO, the Alliance, and Ex-Cerberus have been cooking up." He said, nodding forward towards the view screen. Jaden looked, and then he finally saw them. Sitting side-by-side in two of the shipdocks, were two massive vessels, each being over 1,400 Meters long. They looked unlike any Starfleet vessel seen before, lacking the standard 'saucer' section most ships possessed, and even forgoing the elongated Nacelles sticking out of the ship. One of the most notable things Jaden could see were the pair of - well what looked to be hangar pods, with large runways unlike what you'd see on a carrier. Everything looked compact and armored, in fact if Jaden had to draw a comparison, the vessels both looked a bit like Alligators.

As the _Eichhorn_ approached, Jaden could see the Starfleet emblem clearly on the 'head' of the ships, and below them were their respective hull numbers and names: NX-90999 USS _Frontier,_ and NX-91000 USS _Galactic_.

"The _Frontier _and _Galactic,_" Roy mused out loud. "They are the first pure warships Starfleet has produced since the four years war. Designed as a hybrid between a Carrier and a Battleship, with the capacity to carry hundreds of shuttles, fighters, vehicles and ground troops into battle, and capable to support them just as effectively. They may not be the fastest ships in the fleet, but they have more armor and shields than any ship I've seen in the fleet… the only ship that I think has better shields is an _Odyssey. _They've got the best tech from both of our universes under their hoods, the first ships of the _Frontier-_class Assault Carriers, and I've heard Starfleet will allow us to built two more after them, along with the new _Olympia-_class Escort Cruisers."

Jaden let out a low whistle. "Damn… sounds like my kind of ship." He said, and Roy chuckled.

"I would hope so," Roy said. "Because you'll be taking command of the _Frontier._"

"...say what?" Jaden asked with a blink.

Roy smirked a bit "I pulled a few strings, and I managed to get Starfleet to allow you to Command the first ship of the class." He said, "I think its about time you upgraded from the _Hercules, _and you'll need all the help you can get when the Reapers and Borg show up again. We've already loaded her up with the new Cobra Fighters, Crusader Mechs, the Warp Inhibitors, and she's got a full crew ready."

"I… thank you sir."

"Don't mention it," Roy said. "Consider yourself the first Captain of the USS _Frontier,_ and I'm making Flay your XO. You are to head out for the Omega 4 Relay… and kick some collector and Cain's ass."

Jaden smirked at that. "I'll head over there ASAP," he said, before he saluted.

* * *

_**Collector base**_

* * *

The _Raging Tempest_ was easing closer to the massive base under cloak, to avoid any more… surprises like all those Collector Cruisers.

"Kim, what does it look like over there?" Takeshi asked.

"The Collectors still think we're here, but they can't find us," Kim replied. "They've got those little ball fighters looking for-"

"Sir, I'm picking up a tight-beam transmission from the Collector base," Rina reported. "I THINK I can tap into it, though."

"On speakers," Takeshi ordered.

"_-have the rest of the colonists, but we need to effect repairs to our EPS grid. We will be delayed by 4 hours._"

An insect-like chirping sound was heard before being translated. "_We will be waiting._"

"Sir, that was Admiral Cain's voice," Rina said.

"She's working with the Collectors, then," Takeshi remarked. "Still, we're on the clock. Riza, any way to get a message to your brother without getting noticed?"

"I know a few ways. Background radiation frequencies, please: I can remodulate the comm signal and route it through the mass relay."

"You can do that?"

"I picked the trick up from Sonja. Just give me access to the comm and we'll be in contact in milliseconds."

* * *

_**USS **_**Frontier**

* * *

"Sir, we are being contacted by the _Raging Tempest._"

Jaden had just finished with an inspection of his new ship as he glanced at his Comm officer - an Orion woman. "The _Raging Tempest?_" He asked, "I thought they were at the Collector base… whatever, patch him through."

"_Cain - arrival at Collector base in 5 hours. Bring reinforcements ASA-_" The sound of static killed the rest of the transmission. "It was vectored through a mass relay, so the quality isn't exactly the highest."

"Sir, I heard Cain," the Navigator said. "Is she involved?"

Jaden's eyes narrowed. "I believe we should head for the Collector base," he said, before he looked at the Helmsman "Set a course for the Omega 4 Relay, and get us there ASAP!"

"I'll send a message to the _Ra-Cailum_, as well as the _Normandy_ SR2, sir." The Orion woman said, "We're going to need the firepower."

"Make it so." Jaden said nodding, "Helm, take us out."

The large prototype starship headed for the mass relay in the system, using it to head for the Omega nebula, and the Omega 4 relay.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"You have got to be shitting me." Ron groaned as they recieved the message from the _Frontier._ "Sorry, Tali: we need to divert to Omega. You're stuck with us for now."

Tali nodded. "It's alright," she said. "This is something that can't wait. Knowing your track record, this should be over in a few minutes."

"Sonja-"

"I know, heading for the relay." The _Ra-Cailum_ spun around and made contact with the mass relay, arriving at the Omega nebula ten minutes later. That was when they saw the _Frontier_ for the first time. "So, that's the MACOs' new limited production carrier. Open a channel."

"Channel Open."

"_Hey Ron! Glad you got the message!_" Jaden said. "_And this ship is a BEAST! Makes the _Hercules _look archaic in comparison!_"

"Twice the armament of a _Negh'var_-Class Klingon battlecruiser, the shielding of a _Guardian_-Class starship and enough armor to count as hull supports for atmospheric flight. Just goes to show you that when the Federation has had enough, it has had _ENOUGH_."

"_Gonna have to agree with ya there._" Jaden said, "_So, ready to kick Collector Ass once again?_"

"Sonja, take us to the Collector base. channel as much power to the deflector as possible: clear a path for the Normandy. Engage." The Ra-Cailum made contact seconds later, followed by the massive Frontier and the smaller Normandy SR2, which decided to join them, Reaper IFF or not. If the Raging Tempest was doing its' job, they probably wouldn't need it.

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**SR2**_

* * *

Shepard, Hitomi, Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus, Tali, Miranda, Jacob, Zaeed, Jack, Grunt, Samara, Thane Krios (A Drell Assassin they'd picked up during one of their stays on Illum), and Legion (who had shown up to help them get the Reaper IFF) all checked their gear. "Everyone ready to go?" Shepard asked.

"Shepard, we've been ready to go for weeks! After this, though, I want Vido fucking Santiago's head."

"You'll get him, Zaeed. Let's go and get those colonists out of there!" The Starfleet forces were going to be doing 80% of the combat on the station: THEY were the distraction. The _Normandy_ team were going in, getting the intel, and GTFOing.

The airlock hatch on the Normandy opened, and the team jumped out into the Collector Base. They drew their weapons, to be ready, and started forward.

"_Starfleet forces have made their beam-ins, Commander,_" EDI informed. "_Harbinger is clearly angered by Captain Pinkerton's presence._"

"Guess he took Sovereign getting ass-raped seriously."

"_Crude, Zaeed, but it does describe the Reaper's attitude toward the Captain. It appears the Reapers have a Code of their own._"

"Not sure whether that qualifies as good news or bad news," Shepard replied, as they made their way through a doorway.

"_Shepard, I am detecting over 5 million human lifesigns at the end of the hall,_" EDI reported.

"That doesn't make any - holy shit." The entered a massive chamber, filled with pods. All of them had a naked human in each of them, from adults to children. And they were seeing a LOT of the same face.

"Someone introduced the Collectors to the concept of cloning," Hitomi remarked.

"_The signatures of the technology appear to be Starfleet,_" EDI informed. "_Admiral Cain's indoctrination, no doubt._"

"But that doesn't answer the fucking question: why the hell do they need so many goddamn clones?" Zaeed asked.

"Maybe that lift can take us higher up and give us the answer," Miranda replied.

"Agreed," Shepard replied. "Let's go."

An explosion caught their attention as a Collector, clearly possessed by Harbinger, burst through the wall, with Jaden and Ron hanging onto it, the latter stabbing it repeatedly with his kilij. "FUCKING DIE, HARBY!"

"_**IF THIS BODY DIES, SO DO YOU!**_"

"That, Reapy, is what you think!"

"Think they need help, Shepard?" Ashley asked.

Both men proceeded to kick the Reaper-controlled pseudo-Prothean in the face before it finally died, and turned to ashes. Both men began to fall, until they saw Ron starting to… fly? "You have got to be kidding me. They have ROCKET BOOTS?!" The look on Jaden's face was priceless.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE MOTHER FUCKING SHITTING ME!"

Ron easily caught the MACO Commander, bringing him up to one of the lifts. "Get over… it." Ron said, before he reached the top. "When the fuck did they make the Terminator?"

"What… the… fuck…" Jaden muttered, as they looked at what could only be described… as a Human Reaper.

"OK, I think I know why they needed all those humans," Shepard remarked. "And this is like the Borg taken up to eleven - at least the Borg let people keep their bodies."

"_The Reaper appears to be in the final stages of development,_" EDI reported.

"That explains the goddamn clones: they wanted to finish this damn thing before we showed up."

"_Mr. Massani appears to be correct._"

"I don't care WHAT this thing is: it dies," Ron said. "I'll hack it apart if I have to." The Reaper's human 'eyes' began glowing. "Oh, shit. It's awake."

"COVER!" Shepard yelled, taking cover behind a crate as the thing opened fire.

"_I would recommend opening a hole in the base for weapons fire._"

"Agreed! Jaden, find some kind of venting control! Shepard, KEEP SHOOTING IT!"

"Aim for its eyes!" Shepard yelled, taking aim with her Widow and firing a round at one of the aforementioned eyes.

"_**NO!**_" Harbinger yelled as Collectors began streaming into the area. "_**YOU WILL NOT KILL ANOTHER ONE OF US, SHEPARD. I WILL DESTROY YOU.**_"

"Go fuck yourself, ya fucking bug thing!" Jack yelled.

"_**YOU WILL DIE FIRST, HUMAN.**_"

The Collectors fired on Jack, but they didn't expect Zaeed to be a big damn hero and headshot two of the Collectors. "How's that feel?!"

"_Venting action in ten seconds,_" EDI reported.

"Grab onto something, people!" Shepard yelled.

The Reaper screamed, almost like a normal human, only a thousand times louder, as one of the vents was opened, and it was sucked out into space. "_Shepard, a Sovereign-type Reaper just showed up,_" Joker reported. "_It's grabbing whatever you just flushed out the airlock!_"

"Don't let it get away!" Shepard yelled. "We have to stop it - we can't let the Reapers get away with whatever they put on that one!"

"_We cannot catch up, Commander: the Reaper is heading for a mass relay near the edge of the accretion disk. It is using the black hole's gravity to increase its' speed._"

"And I'm not risking any of our ships to chase that thing down. To hell with it: let it go."

Shepard sighed. "Well, hopefully that won't come back to haunt us later," she said. "Let's prime that trap for Cain now, and then blow this place up."

"That's not the plan."

"Captain?" Ron looked to Jaden.

"We don't want this base to be destroyed," Jaden said. "With the Reaper gone, and the Collectors pretty much dead now, this base could make for a perfect secluded Headquarters for Section 31. Now that we don't have to worry about anyone being indoctrinated during their stay here."

"Section 31? But I thought-"

"Long story, but they're still working for the Federation. Let's get the hell out of here. We have a bitch to catch, do we not?"

* * *

_**USS **_**Quran** _**\- en route to Collector base**_

* * *

"So you just need us to take the base?" Cain asked the holographic image of the Illusive Man.

"_Yes,_" TIM said. "_With Shepard part of the Federation, you're the only person who can do this, your ship surpasses anything the Collectors can come to bear. Take the base before the Federation get their hands on it._"

"We'll have it done in a few hours: dark energy still doesn't mix well well with our 're going to have to clear out the base level by level."

"We're dropping out of FTL, Admiral." The Quran dropped out of relay-induced FTL, and there was problems in seconds. "Report!"

"We can't form a proper warp bubble!" one of the officers announced. "Sensors are picking up Warp Inhibitors surrounding the Collector Base!"

"It was a fucking trap," Cain growled out. "Section 31 bastards SET US UP!" Cain's hands began shaking. The Admiral had rapidly lost her mind, forgetting she was a member of S31. "Get us out of here! Full impulse!"

"_Surprise, bitch! Guess who's back!_" The _Quran_ shook as weapons fire hit the dreadnought.

"Pinkerton!" Cain shouted, "I should've known! Return fire! Kill that bastard!"

The _Quran's_ phasers fired at the _Ra-Cailum_, but the ship wasn't alone. "Ship bearing 154 mark 090! It's the _Raging Tempest!_"

"We can handle Yamato and Pinkerton!"

"More contacts, bearing 125 mark 000!" the Operator said, "It's the _Normandy_ SR2! And we have another contact: unknown class!"

"What? On screen!" She shouted. And a few moments later, the front screen switched to that of a massive contact, a vessel almost the size of an _Odyssey,_ bearing Federation markings yet at the same time looking like a totally different design altogether. And on its hull she could see its designation: NX-90999 USS _Frontier_.

"_EAT PHASERS BITCH!_" Jaden's voice shouted out, as the _Frontier _fired a volley of Phaser Banks, while also firing its upgraded Broadsides into the _Odyssey,_ dealing heavy blows against its shields with the combined efforts of the _Ra-Cailum, Raging Tempest, _and _Normandy._

"We have another contact! _Ambassador_-Class!" The _Quran's_ damaged and primitively patched up systems could barely keep up with the amount of fire laid into it. "Ra-Cailum _to_ Quran: s_urrender now, and I won't have Jaden blow holes in your hull just to get rid of you._"

"FUCK YOU ALL!" Cain shouted, as the _Quran _fired all of its remaining weapons at the opposing Starships, refusing to just surrender.

* * *

**USS **_**Frontier**_

* * *

"Welp, you heard the bitch." Jaden said, "Maximize shield strength, target only their bridge. Have all Cobra's conduct strafing runs with Phasers and Torpedoes, make sure they avoid their point-defense systems and keep an eye out if they try to vent out plasma."

The _Frontier _moved up, its shields taking the bulk of the _Quran's_ fire as it fired wave after wave of Phasers and Photon Torpedoes, targeting the bridge for a quick end to the ship without destroying the whole vessel. The F/A-69C Cobra Fighters worked alongside _Peregrine-_class Fighters as they strafed the shields and hull of the _Oddy-_class vessel, moving too fast for their already damaged and outdated Cerberus-refit systems could keep up with.

The lighter fighters were not easy to hit, even with Starfleet-issue targeting computers, and the _Quran_ wasn't using those. However, the Cobras' shields were only strong enough to survive hits from 2150s era energy weapons. The price for compact size was universal: minimal protection in exchange for speed. But the Cobra's were certainly making it difficult for the _Quran _to get a bead on them as they flew circles around the ship. One Cobra managed to get a lucky shot out, firing a Photon/Disruptor Torpedo into the port Nacelle, damaging it considerably.

The _Quran_ quickly lost life support and navigational control due to strafing runs from the _Raging Tempest _and surgical strikes from the _Ra-Cailum_ and _Ayalde_, which cut off EPS conduits throughout the ship. "Ra-Cailum _to_ Frontier: _her shields are down and transporter inhibitors are offline. I still outrank you, so consider this an order: board that fucking ship and RETAKE IT!_"

"That's the plan, Ron," Jaden said. "Boarding teams are preparing to head over now. Ordering all Cobra's to RTB."

The _Odyssey_-Class ship began to drift, and the _Ambassador_-class _Ayalde_ began to tow it back to the mass relay, while the boarding parties did their jobs. Luckily, they didn't have as much trouble as they thought: the entire crew was indoctrinated, and their higher reasoning skills were… rather highly degraded. "_Sir, we have control of main engineering. No casualties on our side. Should we shut down back-up life support to make our jobs easier?_"

"Ron, what do you say?" Jaden asked.

"_Take out the backups and let them die, or have your people deal with Cain so we can put her on trial?_" Ron asked, "_Fuck her: let her suffocate._"

Jaden smirked and nodded. "You heard the man, disable back-up life support," he said. "Let's finish this up, we've got more important things to do here."

"Aye, sir: we're cutting off the backups now. We're going to need to get a large number of engineers on board to fix half of this shit."

"_We'll get them on the _Quran _in a few minutes,_" Ron replied. "_Now, Takeshi, you have someone I want back on my ship._"

"_I think she wants back on your ship, too,_" Takeshi informed. "_We'll send her over ASAP._"

"_Good: Sonja's getting pissed off at being at the helm."_

Jaden smiled as he glanced at Flay. "Best send word to your people, Flay," he said. "Tell 'em the Collector Base is all theirs." Flay nodded as Jaden turned to the Helm. "Set a course to the Relay, get us out of here."

"Aye, sir. Setting course now."

* * *

_**Cerberus Headquarters**_

* * *

"_Sir, we've lost contact with the _Quran_. Admiral Cain is dead._"

TIM sighed. "Predictable," he said. "Starfleet has taken the Collector Base for themselves." The Illusive Man took a long drag from his smoke. "What about the upgrades to Takeo's designs?"

"_We can't boost weapons or shield power past 87%. The designs are at their limit with our technology._" Harper hated it when that happened. They didn't get shit from Cain: just hints on where to go. They could only take on Starfleet with mass of numbers. The Alliance had suffered from that issue with the Breen 18 months before, and lost the entire 8th Fleet because of that. Less than ten ships, and they destroyed the 39-strong 8th Fleet while suffering zero casualties.

"Find out where those other two Collector ships ran off to."

"_One attacked Fael Prime, attempting to abduct the colonists, but they failed thanks to Havoc Squad and that damned ship of theirs. The other ship is currently hiding._"

The leader of Cerberus was even LESS pleased. "Tell Kai Lang to get Grayson here: I want our Phantom program off the ground as quickly as possible."

"_Understood, sir. And… what about Archer?_"

"He's in Starfleet's custody. beyond our reach. Just get that biotic bastard here."

* * *

_**Wolf System**_

* * *

"So, you want to test the limits of what that _Sao Paulo_ can do?" Ron asked.

"Yeah," Takeshi replied. "I know what she can do within the safety regs, and even when you bend them a fair amount. But after seeing what Riza did when she was at the helm, I want to see what this thing can do when you take the regs and throw them completely out the window."

Ron glanced at his Chief Engineer. "First off, Captain, I'm taking a look at the junk you decided to put into this ship. Why in the name of hell you put in Asari and Alliance manufactured equipment into your ship is beyond me. The standard issue is better than this corporate shit."

Matt shrugged. "They were subcontracted by the SCE to make the gear, and we were chosen to test it," he said.

"Dear God, Sullivan was an IDIOT for doing that," Ron remarked. "Sonja, do your thing and get this crap out of there. I'm going to take a look at your targeting scanners, see what I can do to… maximize their performance."

"Might be good to look over the performance data, too," Matt said. "Part of the reason for the subcontracting was to see if someone looking at the technology from a different angle could come up with improvements that the SCE, which has been working with the tech for so long and along the same design paths all that time, might have missed."

"Good thing I'm a member of the SCE," Sonya remarked. "As long as nothing stupid-"

"_Mitod to Henderson: the warp core is doing its' thing again._"

The female engineer twitched. Ron covered his ears before she screamed, which was heard throughout the _Raging Tempest_ and even on the _Frontier_, which was 210 kilometers away, separated by the vacuum of space. "Whoever said 'in space, no one can hear you scream' clearly never met Sonja," Ron said.

"Clearly," Takeshi remarked dryly, even as he worked a finger around inside his ear.

"If I EVER see that Turian asshole EVER again, I'll KILL HIM!" Sonja yelled as she stalked out of the room, heading for the closest transporter.

"We've been having issues with the warp core ever since Nihlus paid a visit to Deck 31. To say Sonja isn't pleased is like saying Tiberian bats don't cling to one another." Ron then pulled out a set of disks the size of dinner plates. "Say hello to your targets." They were made of duranium… and had Ron's smiling face printed on them.

* * *

Jaden blinked as he looked up inside the _Frontier's_ CIC. "Was that Sonja?" he asked. "Wasn't she on the _Ra-Cailum_?"

"She is," Flay said nodding.

"Then… how did we..."

"Whoever says 'In space, no one can hear you scream' clearly never met someone like Sonja."

* * *

"Uh…"

"It was Nattie's idea. Originally, she used them for rifle practice. Now we use them for ship weapons accuracy testing. The ultimate challenge is to burn a hole clear through without destroying it. We've done this on every ship, and the only ones to succeed were the _Katti_… and the _Ra-Cailum_."

"Makes sense," Linda replied. "I mean, one of my classmates at the Academy had a collection of 20th-21st century dimes, which she used as targets for sniper rifle practice. Those disks would be like the same kind of thing for starships."

"And now we get to try on the _Tempest,_" Ron said. Another scream was heard, clearly from Sonja. "Computer, where is Commander Henderson?"

"_Commander Henderson is no longer on board._"

"DAMN, she's got a pair of lungs, don't she?" Ron asked. "I'm going to mod those scanners of yours."

"Right," Takeshi replied. "Matt, you get that performance data ready for Sonja to review. Even if the subcontracted equipment isn't as high-quality as the regular stuff, there's likely still some improvements she might be able to apply."

"On it," Matt said.

The Ra-Cailum's captain walked toward the tactical console, then began to work. "Captain, we have an incoming hail from the Normandy," Rina reported. "It's Captain Shepard."

"Captain?"

"Admiral Ushiromiya gave 'er a commission. I'd put her up if I were you."

"On screen, Rina," Takeshi said.

The face of their mutual friend and fellow officer appeared on the screen. "_Takeshi - what in the hell is going on over there? I thought I heard a scream five minutes ago._"

"_Five creds says it's Sonja!_"

"_Shut up, Joker!_"

"It was Sonja," Takeshi informed. "Apparently, back when he was first on the ship, Nihlus did something that's rendered the _Ra-Cailum's_ Warp Core screwy ever since."

"_Called it!_"

"_Enough, Joker. Admiral Hackett wants us to take care of something in the Balak system, but since some asshole just tried to KILL ME, I'm a little too focused on revenge at the moment._"

"Shadow Broker finally had enough of our little archaeologist, has he?"

Shepard looked at the tactical post at the edge of the screen. "_Captain Pinkerton?_"

"In the flesh. At least 33% of it. I'm helping tune this motherfucker to perfection. So, you want help with one of the few Batarian colonies left over here?"

"_Yeah - or at least for someone else to deal with it while I deal with the Broker,_" Shepard replied.

"Fine by me," Ron replied. "Take, consider your fine tuning cancelled: you're helping Shepard. Rin, tie us in to the _Frontier_."

"…Rin?" Rina asked. "Really?"

"Just do it, kid."

Rina did that, and soon Jaden's image joined Shepard's on the screen.

"_What's up Ron?_" Jaden asked.

"Take's going with Shepard. YOU are joining me on a run to the Bahak system, in what is left of Batarian space." Why the Borg left Balak alone was a mystery, but the simple fact that they were still building up and consolidating was enough to make them less of a threat then the Reapers. Regardless, the Bahak system was the largest free Batarian colony left in their home universe.

"_Batarian Space?_" Jaden asked. "_What the hell are we doing over there?_"

"Shepard told us Admiral Hackett has something he needs done there," Ron said. "Since Shepard is busy, we're going in to see what the Admiral wants."

"_Alright, we'll be there._" Jaden said.

"Pinkerton to Ra-Cailum: if that warp core's online, set a course for the mass relay and take us to the Bahak system. And if Sonja's free, tell her to send the spare to the _Frontier_."

"_Aye, sir. locking onto you now._"

"We'll deal with the fine-tuning later, once we've both finished our respective missions," Takeshi said.

Ron disappeared in a column of light, leaving them all wondering one thing. "What the hell did he mean by spare?"

* * *

_**USS **_**Frontier**

* * *

The quartermaster was not expecting a round object to materialize next to his chair. A meter tall and rather heavy, it sat there as if it belonged.

"Uhh… what?" The Quartermaster asked in surprise, looking at the object. He tapped his Omni-tool to activate the comm. "Uhh, Bridge? I think someone just teleported a cloaking device onto our ship…"

"_Wait, hu?_" Jaden asked, "_Oh, so _that's _what Ron was transporting… contact Hikari, get that thing installed ASAP, we're probably gonna need it._"

"Aye, sir." he sent the call to the ship's de facto chief engineer, and went back to work.

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

"So, we're picking up an Alliance scientist?"

"_Amanda Kenson,_" Admiral Hackett replied, nodding. "_She was one of the first to do studies on the relays before you showed up. Only a tiny fraction of the mass relays in the galaxy, less than one fucking percent, are 50000 years old. According to her, the Bahak relay is the oldest: the so-called 'Alpha Relay'._"

"While that's important and all, what the hell's she doing in the Bahak system in the first place?" Jaden asked. "It's practically on the edge of Borg space."

"_She was captured by Batarian Soldiers, accusing her of being a terrorist,_" the Admiral said. "_Just before she was captured, she contacted me informing me she had evidence of an imminent Reaper invasion._"

"We know the Reapers are coming, Admiral: we've known for two years." Ron said, "If the cuttlefish decide to show up while we're there, I'll blow up the relay."

"_And sacrifice over thirty thousand lives, Batarian or not?_"

"Drop in the bucket, Hackett: the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Ron said. "I'd rather delay them another year than risk an invasion today."

"_Understood._" Hackett said, "_By the way, Captain… cuttlefish?_"

The Starfleet captain shrugged. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed that they look like those cute little squid I have in my ready room?"

"_They actually do, believe it or not,_" Jaden said with a light chuckle.

"_You people are insane. Then again, Shepard's more than a little off-kilter, so it's expected if you get along with her so well. Get Amanda out of there. Hackett out._" The transmission from Arcturus ended and the ship's captain let out a breath. "We can't beam in or out, and if the Batarians see a battalion of Starfleet Marines on the ground, they'll kill her," he said. "This means one thing."

"Stealth," Nattie said. "You're not going in alone."

"Of course not." Ron said, "Jaden's coming with me."

"_I'll be ready,_" Jaden said. "_Would you like to bring one of my Ex-Freelancer teams?_"

"No," Ron said. "If the Batarians see a squad of armed soldiers down there, they'll kill her. Less people, less of a chance we'll be detected. Two people. No more."

"_Alright,_" Jaden said. "_I'll get suited up and ready to head out._"

Ron stood up, walking into his ready room and grabbing two pieces of equipment: his kilij and a grappling gun. "Putting that thing you picked up during that little trip to that hive to use?"

"I WAS one of the first officers to participate in Operation Delta Rising. My rifle?"

"Transporter room one, and it's fully charged."

"Good. I'm going to need it."

* * *

_**USS **_**Frontier**

* * *

"You sure you should do this alone?" Flay asked, as Jaden put on his armor, equipping his weapons.

"I'm not going in alone, Ron's going in with me," Jaden replied as he put his weapons behind his back. "We've got each other's backs. Besides, this isn't the first time I've infiltrated Batarian Security."

The S31 operative still wasn't comfortable with the situation, and it showed, even as Ron rematerialised in the transporter off of CIC. Jaden took note of the weapons he had: a Type-2 phaser, modified to knock out biotic amps, his ubiquitous Type-3 compression rifle and the monomolecular kilij, plus a kind of grappling gun. "So, kid, ready to go infiltrate a Batarian colony?"

"More than ready," Jaden said, nodding. "Hopefully we can do this and get out before the Batties know we're even there."

"And thanks to that, you jinxed it." Ron said, "This should at least delay the stupidity." Ron put a device in his hands before walking out of CIC, heading for the drop pods.

Jaden looked at the device in his hand "Uhh… what's this?" He asked.

"Its a personal cloaking device from the looks of it," Flay said, "Just attach it too your suit and you can activate it at will."

"Ohh, nice." Jaden said, grinning as he attached it to his suit. "Should come in handy."

"I think you should get moving: the man's probably figured out the launching protocols by now." A chirp was heard before they heard his voice. "_I have; I'm just waiting on the good Commander. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be down here_?"

"How the HELL does he move that fast?" Jaden muttered as he headed for the turbolift.

* * *

Sitting in a modified Delta Flyer-Class shuttle was the man in question, who was fiddling with something seemingly invisible. A minute or so later, Jaden arrived, giving him a nasty glare. "Oh, hello! Took your time."

"Unlike you, I _walked._" Jaden said, "Not everyone has your apparent instantaneous transportation ability."

"I don't have internal transporter nodes, Jaden: five centuries too early," Ron said. "I simply accessed your transporter system and initiated a site-to-site beaming. Time IS kinda of the essence, so I figured faster is better."

Jaden sighed. "Fine, whatever, let's get going," he said as he boarded the shuttle. "I call shotgun."

"I know this shuttle better then you do, so that's natural." The Gemini, which was the shuttle in question, was raised into the vacuum, then took off under her own power. "Engaging cloaking device and setting course for the base. We'll be landing three kilometers away, so get ready for a hike. Also, have you seen my helmet? Kinda need it."

"What, you can't keep track of your own stuff?" Jaden asked as he glanced around the shuttle.

"Doesn't help that the damn thing is cloaked." Ron said, "And the shit I've got on cloaks EVERYTHING unless I turn it off." THAT got Jaden's attention. "Wait, what?" Ron engaged the autopilot. "I'm wearing body armor." The MACO commander was not convinced.

"...okay… what's the point of wearing cloaked body armor… if you can be seen as bright as day under it?" Jaden asked.

"Two settings, kid: one for casual, so no one notices the armor, and one for not so casual. Hang on a second, I'll shut off the cloak." He twitched his right eye, and a form materialized over his uniform. It appeared to be modified N7 armor, only more cutdown and slim. Jaden knew better than to think it was weaker, however: Federation materials were so fucking durable that if it were a near copy, the bastard would be all but invulnerable to conventional ME weapons fire. Not that anyone used standard tungsten ME weapons anymore, thanks to the other side introducing duranium.

"Huh, nice." Jaden said. "I can actually see the practicality of that… VIP's could wear it, and no one would know they're wearing a protective suit of armor."

"DAC introduced it about a year ago." Ron said, "Not surprised you haven't seen it: they're as tight-lipped as an Obsidian Order agent. I've gotten in the habit of wearing the damn thing. That doesn't mean I like it, and not for moral reasons. The fucking thing is ITCHY."

"It beats being dead." Jaden said.

"Doesn't mean it's not fucking useless when I'm cloaked." Ron said, "I have to rely on kinetic barriers. And we both know how useless those are against energy weapons. Case in point, every retard from your universe that has shot at my ship." The shuttle touched down, and Ron finally found his helmet. It was on the deck, near his feet. "Fucking cloaking devices."

"Let's go." Jaden said as he put his own helmet on. "I'll follow your lead."

* * *

The Batarians never saw them coming. Literally. The only resistance they had was from the varren, and they were easily put down with a simple beheading. "You know, I'm very tempted to cut my way through and kill everything."

"Same here," Jaden said as they moved through the base. "But of course, stealth is key here. We can't risk setting off any alarms, otherwise they might kill the scientist."

"Time for Plan F." Ron said.

"Plan… F?"

"For-"

"Frontier _to ground team: I'm sorry, sirs, we TRIED to stop them, but-_"

Ron looked at Jaden. "You didn't bring those idiots with you." The ground shook seconds later, and they heard… music.

"Oh GODDAMNIT!" Jaden shouted, as a few moments later a Jeep-like vehicle flew over their heads, firing weapons at the Batarian guards. A man wearing red armor riding in the side seat fired his shotgun into the face of a Batarian "Now that's what I call riding shotgun! BLAMO! Hahaha!"

"Excellent shot and follow-up one-liner, sir!"

"Well, that didn't go to plan, but hey, distraction." Ron said, "They'll be too focused on the idiots to care about INSIDE the base. So fuck stealth and RUN!" Ron's analysis was spot-on, although when they arrived at Kenson's location (a torture chamber, for lack of a better term) there was still a Batarian there, although he was looking for the right gun to use. "Excuse me, asshole?" The Batarian looked up… then fell down as Ron shot him with his compression rifle at point blank range.

"Dr. Kenson?" Jaden asked as he walked behind her to undo her restrains. "Are you alright?"

"No, but I assume that will change." She said, "Who are you people?"

"Pinkerton and Takeo, UFP Starfleet," Ron said. "We're here to get your ass out of here."

Kenson nearly fell to the ground after the last restraint was undone, but managed to use Ron as a support. "We need to get… to the project."

"Explain AFTER we get you the hell out of here and patched up, Doc!" Ron said, as additional alarms started going off.

"Time to go!" Jaden shouted as they left the room. "Hangar's not to far, we could hijack a Drop Shuttle and GTFO that way, I don't think we have the time to hike all the way back to our shuttle."

"That's what YOU think." The building shook as they reached the outer walls, revealing that the shuttle was hovering there.

"How-"

"I have a neural interface, kid, and I'm using the interplexing beacon in my skull to remotely fly that thing!"

"Alright! Fine!" Jaden shouted as they climbed onboard. "Will someone get the Reds back to the fucking ship already?!"

"They can steal a fucking shuttle!" The _Delta Flyer_-Class craft then made a hasty retreat, going at full impulse. "We need to head to this asteroid-"

"WE are going back to my ship so you can get looked at, doc!" Ron said. "Hackett sent us here to find you. We found you."

"And now we need to destroy the relay!" Kenson said, "If we don't destroy that thing _now _the Reapers will be at earth in less than two days!"

Ron gave her a look, then pulled a high energy turn toward the asteroid in question, throwing both of the native personnel out of their chairs. "Engaging warp drive."

"Are you CRAZY?!"

"It's a short hop: it's been done before." The shuttle jumped to warp, dropping out just half a kilometer from the asteroid.

"A WARNING would've been nice!" Jaden said as he got back to his feet.

"Do we have time for warnings or just doing?"

"While you have a point, Commander Takeo, unfortunately, so does Captain Pinkerton." Amanda said, "We need to start up the project as quickly as possible, and evacuate the staff."

"Easy to do." Jaden said. "So, what's this 'Reaper artifact' of yours?"

"We don't know what its purpose is, or how it ended up on the asteroid to begin with." Amanda said, "Somethings are simply too old or too large to comprehend. Even a Reaper thousands of years dead contains power, there artifacts are worth study regardless of their purpose."

"And how do you know the Reapers are coming through this artifact?" Jaden asked.

"It sent me visions," Amanda said, "Visions of their arrival, much like those the Prothean Beacon showed Commander Shepard. The Reapers _are _coming, that much I know for certain."

Jaden rose an eyebrow "If you're working by a Reaper artifact, how are you avoiding indoctrination?" he asked.

"We are being very careful, Commander," Amanda said. "We _know _what we're dealing with, you're not speaking to a child. I _saw _what Sovereign did to the citadel, I know what's at stake here."

"And I'm the one who BLEW UP that cuttlefish." Ron said, as the shuttle set down in the bay, and they left, but not before Ron gave Jaden a combadge. "Trust me." The MACO raised an eyebrow, but took it anyways.

"So, this 'thing', where is it?" "I'll show you." As they followed the doctor, they studied the personnel before Ron, quite loudly, spoke up. "Yup, they're fucking indoctrinated."

Jaden glanced around, and noticed no one seemed to react to what Ron said. "Yeah… but-"

"The Combadge had a universal translator in it - I'm speaking Romulan right now." Ron answered, "I doubted your Omni-tool was updated with Romulan yet. Speak another language, something from my universe."

Thankfully, while his Romulan was still in development, Jaden was rather fluent in Klingon. "Nice trick," he said. "So, what do we do?"

"If you have a phaser, use it: the Alliance is still having difficulties with personal deflector shields." Ron said, "And hope to hell that anti-indoctrination device implanted in your armor works."

They arrived at the artifact, and Kenson gestured to them to enter. "Don't worry, gentlemen: it's shielded."

"Like my ass after I eat a plate of curry." Kenson clearly didn't get it, but that was because it was in Romulan. The three then entered the door, where the Reaper artifact resided.

"And… you just have the Artifact just… sitting here…" Jaden said, "Out in the open?"

"Like I said, it gave me visions." Kenson said, "We know what we are doing. Just look Commander… and it will give you the proof you need."

"...you don't plan on restarting the project." Jaden said, as he drew out his Phaser, pointing it at Kenson. "You've been indoctrinated, Doctor. " Then the doors shut. "Oh, hell."

"I'm sorry, gentlemen, but you cannot stop the arrival." Kenson said, "Security, take them down!" Dozens of armed men began descending into the chamber, and Ron easily began picking them off one by one. "Damn it, he's got a phaser rifle! Son of a bitch ain't playing fair!"

"YOU WANT FAIR, ASSHOLE, I'LL GIVE YOU FAIR!" Ron tossed Jaden his compression rifle before drawing his kilij. And proceeded to commence the most painful ass-kicking then known.

Jaden sighed, putting the rifle on his back. "Once you're finished, Ron, let me know," he said. "I'll start getting this asteroid moving towards the Relay."

The security idiots began running around the room, with Ron on their asses. Running around in circles was going to get them killed, however, as Ron stopped. They didn't.

"FUCK!"

"SURPRISE!"

Jaden shook his head as he tried accessing the controls, but seeing as the terminals were locked from the rest of the base, getting the asteroid moving was not going to be easy. At this point, they heard a steady hum.

"Hmm?" Jaden asked as he glanced around, "Ron, you hear something?"

"Oh, shit." The two then looked at the artifact. "Oh, son of a Protestant-" The artifact, known as Object Rho, fired off a pulse that knocked both of them out. The doors to the chamber opened, and the other project personnel entered the room.

"Take Commander Takeo to medical."

"And Pinkerton?"

"Of the two of them, he is the more technologically literate. Put him in the airlock and vent him into space."

Biggest mistake they would ever make.

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

The simple fact that they hadn't heard from the Ra-Cailum or the Frontier was worrying enough to Shepard that she practically ordered them to head straight for the Bahak system. "_Ra-Cailum_, this is the _Raging Tempest_," Takeshi said. "Please respond."

"Ra-Cailum _here. Something the matter, _Tempest?"

"Just that we hadn't heard from you after we finished up with the Shadow Broker, something that caused Shepard to have a Bad Feeling," Takeshi replied.

"_We haven't heard from Captain Pinkerton or Commander Takeo for the last 36 hours,_" Corpsa said. "_We assumed they were just getting ready for an evacuation for the asteroid base._"

"_Then that's where we need to go,_" Shepard replied. "_Takeshi, follow us in._" The Normandy headed directly for the base in question.

"Right behind you," Takeshi replied. "And, to be honest, Shepard, you're not the only one with a Bad Feeling about this."

As the two ships approached the base, other sensors officers discovered something odd. "Sir, there's a human lifesign outside the base."

"What?"

"And a commbadge signal: it's Captain Pinkerton."

"OK, something really weird's going on," Takeshi remarked. "Transporter Room, Beam Ron aboard before he dies out there."

"_Not possible, sir: ME fields are active throughout the base. We can't beam him on board._"

"Not that we NEED to."

"Huh?"

"Sir, with due respect, he's a former Class-3 Borg drone," Kim said. "He still has the ability to survive in the vacuum of space. He's fine."

"Still, that begs the question: What's he doing out there in the first place?" Takeshi asked.

"We might be about to find out," Rina reported. "we're getting a signal from a Borg-based transmitter. I think it's his interplexing beacon."

A pop was heard before they heard Ron's voice over the comm. "_Take, if I find Kenson, remind me to LOP HER FUCKING HEAD OFF!_"

"Ron, what happened?" Takeshi asked.

"What DIDN'T happen? Jaden's group of retards nearly botched the mission, Kenson and her bunch of idiots are indoctrinated and I just spent the last day and a half in the VACUUM OF SPACE!"

Takeshi blinked. "OK, if the person you were sent to rescue was Indoctrinated, that's some bad news already," he said.

"_There's also the fact that there's a Reaper fleet en route: they're supposed to get here in less than 2 hours, AND I don't know where Jaden is! Fuck this, time for the Borg approach!_"

That was a bad sign if Ron was going to use his Borg nanotechnology to hijack the base. "Ron, think about-"

"_Too pissed to think! Activating the thrusters now!_"

"You want some support?" Takeshi asked. If Ron was doing this no matter what, the best Takeshi could do would be to offer backup.

"Get your team AND Shepard over here! Time for fucking payback!" Another pop was heard.

"He hung up on us," Rina informed.

"His signal's showing that he's making his way back into the facility," Kim reported. "Orders, sir?"

Takeshi sighed. "Linda, get a team onto the _Cyclone_ \- you're going over there," Takeshi ordered. "Shepard, you should get a team together, too."

* * *

_**Project Base**_

* * *

"What do you mean the thrusters are firing?!"

"_Exactly that, Doctor! We've been locked out of all the major systems! It's like someone threw a switch and locked all the doors, too!_"

Kenson growled "Shut it down! Do something!" She barked out as she closed the line. "How could this get worse?"

"_Doctor! Jaden Takeo's broken out of containment!_"

"WHAT?!"

"_The Sedatives didn't work! He's- Oh goAAHHHH!_"

"_I'M COMING FOR YOU KENSON!_" A Very pissed off Jaden shouted on the Comm.

"There is no way this could get any worse."

The lights went off, and she heard a VERY unwelcome voice. "_All your base are belong to me, bitch._"

"How?! We shoved you out an airlock!"

"_Smart move, if I were just an ordinary human. Unfortunately for YOU, I'm a FORMER BORG DRONE, so prepare to kiss thy ass goodbye!_"

Gunfire and the sound of people dying was the order of the day, as the base rocked once more. "NOW what?!"

"_Doctor, we're under attack! It's the _Normandy _and _Raging Tempest_! Wait, OH SHIT, PINKERTON'S GOT HIS-_" A wet sound was heard, and Kenson KNEW that had to be his kilij.

"_Yo Ron! I've got your compression Rifle! Give me your coordinates and I'll meet you there to give it back!_" Jaden said, as a weapon's shot was heard, followed by a scream. "_GOD this gun's awesome!_"

Kenson began holding her head. "We're doomed."

"Yes, Doc, you are."

She turned her head around to see none other than Nicole Shepard and her crack team of pain givers. "Commander! We need your help, those two-"

"Told us everything," Shepard replied. "Nighty-night, Doc." Kenson didn't even have a chance as she was shot by Garrus' new phaser rifle. "Get her back to the _Normandy_."

"What about you?" Garrus asked.

"We're going to find Ron and Jaden."

* * *

The Type-3 compression rifle was a limited mode, high-powered phaser rifle. It could fire beams, bolts and sustained high-density blasts of energy. And Jaden was in LOVE with it.

"I just found what I want for Christmas!" Jaden shouted, as he fired another shot, taking out yet another one of Kenson's goons. "This thing is fucking perfect!"

"We have you now, you little-" The security bastard's little rant was stopped when a rather sharp blade was plunged through his neck from behind, and decapitated the man beside him. "I am NOT pleased." The sight of a bloodsoaked Ron was actually a good thing… for Jaden, at least.

"Hey Ron!" Jaden shouted. "Fucking LOVE this rifle of yours!" He tossed it back to Ron, who caught it. "Totally getting me my own one of these days."

"The armory on the _Ra-Cailum's_ full of them." Ron said. "No one seems to want to touch the damn things after Voyager's trip through the Delta Quadrant. But that's mine: it has my name on it. Let's find Kenson: she has an appointment with my sword."

"Right," Jaden said nodding, "And then we get the hell out of here before we hit that Relay."

"_Warning: relay impact in two minutes. Evacuate the facility immediately._"

"Whoops." Ron said, "When I put those things on full burn, I didn't take the ME fields into account. Fuck Kenson: back to the shuttle!"

"SHIT!" Jaden shouted as the two made a dash back towards the Shuttle bay. "Why is it everytime I go on missions with you, shit like this happens?"

"Not my fault!" Both found their ride, and successfully blew open the hangar doors with concentrated phaser fire. "Anyone on the station, GTFO NOW!" A beep was heard, and when Ron turned on the comm, they were greeted by a VERY unwelcome cuttlefish: Harbinger.

"Oh hey, its Sovereign's big brother," Jaden said. "Wazzup you oversized cuttlefish?"

"_**PINKERTON. TAKEO. I WILL BREAK YOU BOTH WHEN THIS IS OVER.**_"

"REALLY. Harby, we have killed no less then two Reapers, and how many Starfleet personnel have YOU killed? ZERO. You can barely scratch the paint off my ship!"

"_**KNOW THIS AS YOUR EFFORTS ULTIMATELY LEAD TO YOUR DESTRUCTION. I WILL JOURNEY TO YOUR WORLD, AND I WILL HARVEST ALL ON ITS' SURFACE. YOUR FEDERATION WILL FALL. PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR THE ARRIVAL.**_" The voice of the Reaper faded away.

"Have I mentioned I REALLY hate that thing?" Ron said. "The reapers in my fish tank are nicer."

"Yes, you have," Jaden said. "Now let's get out of here before we get blown away like the colony!"

"Hang on tight!" The shuttle headed straight for the _Ra-Cailum_, which had decloaked, and landed with seconds to spare as the ship hit the relay, followed by the _Tempest_, _Frontier_ and finally, the _Normandy_. "Well, we just killed a third of a million sentient beings. Starfleet Command is going to fucking kill me."

"It was either destroy the Relay, or let the Reapers come," Jaden said. "30,000 Batarians to save billions of people in our universe. Needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"The days I hate Vulcan logic."

* * *

_**Arcturus Station - 2 days later**_

* * *

"I sent Shepard to rescue Kenson. Now I hear that you destroyed an ENTIRE solar system. Would you mind filling in the GAP BETWEEN THE TWO?!" Hackett was not alone in this: Admiral T'nae and General Mustang were also there. "It's not as though we had much of a choice, Admirals."

"Captain, your career in Starfleet depends on your explanation."

"Kenson had been indoctrinated by a Reaper artifact," Jaden said. "They Reapers were intending to use the Alpha Relay to invade Alliance Space ahead of schedule. If Ron had not destroyed the Relay, by now Reapers would be attacking our universe's earth."

"You killed thirty thousand Batarians!"

"If I had a choice in the matter, I'd've gotten them out of there!" Ron said. "But sadly, life doesn't play fair." Shepard noticed the look on Ron's face. He blamed himself for the entire debacle.

"Captain, Admiral Jellico is demanding another hearing and a court martial on this matter."

"Show me the way, Admiral."

Mustang chuckled. "You were right, he DOES want to walk to the gallows! Relax, captain: Jellico, as usual, was clubbed upside the head by Admiral Quinn. Considering your history and how many times you've gone through these charades, Jellico's probably going to get sacked. However, that DOES leave one problem."

"And what problem is that?" Takeshi asked.

"Blame needs to be laid, and while Pinkerton DID start up the engines…" All eyes went to Shepard. "It was Shepard's assignment."

"You've gotta be shitting me…" Jaden muttered. "Shepard wasn't anywhere near the base until right near the end! She barely had anything to do with it!"

"It isn't my idea. The Prime Minister wants someone to screw over, and because this was Shepard's assignment, I don't have a choice. We need the _Ra-Cailum_ and _Raging Tempest_ on the front line, and this gives us the chance to retrofit the _Normandy_ with Alliance equipment."

"The one who should be screwed over is me. I started the engines and blew up the relay."

"Your President agreed with the Prime Minister."

Shepard sighed. "So, if I'm the scapegoat, what's going to happen?" she asked.

"We'll drag it out as long as possible: bureaucracy does have its' advantages in this case," Hackett replied. "If the Reapers show up within the year, we'll let you out, no questions asked. Until then, you'll be put in an apartment, under house arrest. Lieutenant Vega will be escorting you to earth."

"As for the rest of you, return to your posts," Mustang concluded. "Captains, Commanders."

Shepard nodded, before something else came to her. "What about Hitomi?" she asked. "Is she under similar circumstances?"

"No. I know what you're going to ask, Commander, and the answer is no, she will not be staying with you. I'm reassigning her to the _Normandy_ retrofit."

Shepard nodded. "Understood, though I hope she'll be able to visit once a week or so."

"Considering your status, Commander, visiting privileges are going to be a paperwork nightmare for anyone."

The Starfleet personnel left the office, and Shepard's shoulders sagged. "You have got to be shitting me."

"I hate to do this, but Shastri's got me on a tight leash," Anderson replied. "Just head to the bay. Vega's waiting for you."

"Yes, sir," she replied, before leaving the office.

* * *

"You're seriously just going along with this?!"

"Kid, when the President of the United Fucking Federation of Planets says jump, you're already in the air. This was out of our hands before we even GOT here. I don't like it any more than you do, but our orders are clear. Just get the MACOs ready for war."

Jaden huffed as he made his way to the shuttle that would take him back to his ship, leaving Ron with Takeshi.

"I doubt it'll be a year before the Reapers attack," Takeshi remarked. "I'd say six months at best."

"Six months, four days, 21 hours and 26 minutes," Ron said. "Mark."

Takeshi blinked. "What, did the Borg Nanos give you brief access directly to Harbinger in that base?" he asked. "I mean, that's a fairly specific prediction."

"I based it off of Harbinger's comment. If I didn't ram the asteroid into the relay, the Reapers would have gotten there 46 hours ago. And we both know who the Reapers' first target is." The _Normandy_ departed for Earth before their eyes. "They'll be gunning for Shepard, then us."

"Right," Takeshi replied. "We're definitely going to have our work cut out for us when they hit."

"At least we don't have to worry about the Borg," Ron said. "They're too focused on consolidating their hold in Batarian space to do anything." Even two years after they arrived, the Borg were still assimilating world after world in Batarian space, only assimilating ships that strayed into their space. The Collective was too weak to do anything to Starfleet here.

"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "Well, might as well get back to work."

* * *

_**Palaven**_

* * *

The two ships were assigned to Palaven to oversee the final stages of construction for a new ship, the first of her class. Which was why Ron was currently flying the _Delta Flyer_-Class _Osiris_ toward the yard in question.

"_So, the first Turian ship with Starfleet tech, huh?_" Takeshi asked, currently flying the _Cyclone_.

"Not exactly, according to the… Oh, my." The ship entered their lines of sight. And it was not Turian. It was Starfleet. "Correct me if I'm wrong… but that's an _Odyssey_-Class starship."

"_At least on the outside,_" Takeshi replied. "_Might be completely new on the inside._"

"_Shuttlecraft _Osiris _and _Cyclone_, this is the _Palaven_: you are clear to dock._"

"Confirmed, _Palaven_," Ron replied. "Beginning approach maneuvers." The two shuttles landed in the massive main shuttlebay, which, as usual, made the _Ra-Cailum_'s look tiny: the _Odyssey_ could count as a supercarrier if needed.

"Definitely a large ship, as usual," Takeshi remarked as they stepped out of the shuttles.

"There's a reason these things are built so large, Captain." Both men looked to an Asari wearing a 2150s era uniform. "I am R'ora T'Lar. Welcome on board the _Palaven_. Please follow me: the yard commandant wants to see you both."

"After you, Ma'am," Takeshi replied.

She led them out of the shuttlebay. "As you have probably noticed, the Palaven is a subclass of the _Odyssey_-"

"Enhanced deflector shielding, weapons, ablative armor and mass effect-based backup FTL systems." Both of them looked to the ex-drone. "What? Just because you two skipped out on the courses doesn't mean I did."

"So, it's basically an _Odyssey_ built with ME-tech from the get-go?" Takeshi asked.

"Not… exactly," she said. "This ship takes the lessons learned from the Block 1 series and applies a few things to correct them."

"In short, you looked at every fight an _Odyssey_-Class starship, namely the _Enterprise, Quran_ and the pathfinder herself, participated in, found out a few problems and made them no longer exist."

"You know your ships."

"Ex-Borg, lady: I know EVERY ship." They entered a turbolift, and the Asari shook her head.

"Still, rather impressive," Takeshi remarked.

The doors opened, and they were greeted with the sight of the bridge. "The Palaven is mostly crewed by Turians, so the bridge is in the Turian style." It DID look an awful lot like the CIC of the _Normandy_, but with standard LCARS controls rather than holographics.

"Captains Pinkerton and Yamato." A Turian wearing a modified 'Odyssey' uniform approached the two. "General Julanis Ponius. I was one of the first Turians to transfer to Starfleet via the Officer Exchange Program. With the Hierarchy joining the Federation, it seemed… fitting for me to take command of the yard."

"Pleasure to meet you, General," Takeshi said with a nod.

"The _Palaven_ is the first of her class, as you know: Asari mass effect technology, Turian military engineering and the Federation's already powerful _Odyssey_-Class all in one. This ship was built to fight anyone that decided to make a mistake."

"The mistake being?"

"Attacking the Federation. If the Turians had been around during the Dominion War, you might not've had such a hard time."

"I get enough of that bullshit from Jaden and his former Cerberus friends, General. The only reason we're here is to test your new superdreadnought."

"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "With the Reapers coming, we need all the help we can get - and I'm hopeful this ship will help out a bit with that."

"Captain, this ship was built to destroy Reapers. And we have the right ship for the test. She's entering the system now." The screen activated, and they saw their opponent: another _Odyssey_.

"Wait a tick, that's the _Quran_," Ron said. "We're fighting the _Quran_ again?"

"Makes sense," Takeshi remarked. "About the only thing that can match an _Odyssey_ is another _Odyssey_."

"I heard you were the best for the job. As such, I requested you to test this ship against the _Quran_."

"Well then, helm, take us out!"

* * *

_**Sha Ka Ree**_

* * *

The _Frontier_ entered orbit of the new fortress world, escorted by the _Eichhorn_. "Frontier, _this is Starbase_ Rommel: _you are clear to dock. Admiral Graham wants to speak with you and Commander Alster immediately._"

"Understood _Rommel,_ we shall be there ASAP." Jaden said, as he stood from the Captain's chair, heading for the Turbolift with Flay following. "Transporter room." He said as the lift began moving.

"Well looks like Ex-Cerberus and MACO worked pretty fast," Flay said. "Starbase operational, Shipyards built and constructing additional ships, your surface bases ready… Sha Ka Ree is looking to be one hell of a fortress world."

Jaden smiled a bit and nodded. "Just what we hoped," he said. "When the Reapers come knocking, we'll be more than ready. The _Frontier _and _Olympia-_classes are going to really change the way MACO operates, along with the refit Ex-Cerberus vessels, and Retrofit Starfleet ships for pure combat like the _Luna-_class." He then frowned a bit "Though honestly, it's not just the Reapers I'm worried about… TIM's still got a large portion of Cerberus under his command… and I have a sneaking suspicion the Borg are going to be getting involved in this shittstorm _very _soon. They've been too damn quiet."

The lift doors opened, depositing them in the transporter room. "The Borg are still too busy with consolidating their forces in Batarian territory," Flay said. "They don't have enough ships or drones over there to justify trying to take over anywhere else - not with the Klingons in the Terminus and the Federation in Council territory." Both of them stepped onto the transporter pad, and the operator began the process of sending them over.

A few moments later, they were over on Starbase Rommel, where they made their way to the Admiral's office to meet Admiral Graham. "That may be, but I still have a bad feeling about this." Jaden said, "What about the Borg in your universe? What if they cross over into our universe to support the Borg here?"

"DAC is keeping them busy." Flay said. "It's the Bluegills and the Vaadwaur you should be more worried about." They entered the office, where a recovering Gil Graham was sitting, looking at two very similar diagrams: both of them _Odyssey_-Class.

"Commanders." Graham, said nodding, "Welcome to Starbase Rommel."

"Admiral, sir," Jaden said with a salute. "Good to see your doing better."

"Surviving a phaser set to kill is something to brag about, especially at my age," Graham said. "I called you here to take a look at these." One of the _Odyssey_ diagrams disappeared, and the remaining one enlarged, showing its' name: _Palaven_-Class. "This is the _Palaven_, the newest subtype of the _Odyssey_-Class. The ship is currently undergoing her her mock combat trial in orbit of the Turian homeworld. She's the first of a new breed of Federation starship."

"Impressive." Jaden said nodding, "Considering how powerful an _Odyssey_ is, one with Turian engineering built into it must be all the more effective… It'd make a hell of a warship."

"It does indeed. But that's only one reason you're here." He brought up another file, this time on the _Bortasqu'_-Class, only labelled '_Khar'Shan'_. "This is the _Palaven's_ Klingon counterpart, the _Khar'Shan_. She's only a few days from beginning her combat trials, although she is having a lot of… problems."

"Let me guess," Jaden said. "Batarian Engineering sucks?"

Graham chuckled. "Indeed, it does." He said, "The destruction of the Hegemony doesn't help matters, and KI has been forced to steal some of our more flawed prototype element zero cores, which, ironically, work better than the ones the Batarian engineers created."

"But that isn't the worrying part." All eyes turned to the Vice Admiral that entered the office. "Section 31 has discovered that the romulan Republic has a new dreadnought warbird class."

"Really?" Jaden asked with a raised eyebrow. "What do we know about it?"

"Besides being based on the Scimitar?" the Admiral asked. "The name: _Rannoch_."

Flay rose an eyebrow. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the name of the Quarian homeworld." She said.

"That would be correct." Graham said, "That's because the Quarians helped rebuild it. They already have four more of the class under construction."

"Hmm, I've heard the rumors of the Quarian-Romulan alliance," Jaden said. "Having Quarians as allies gives them a massive advantage, they're unparalleled in technical expertise in our universe. Give 'em enough time and resources and they can make something truly scary. I personally wish we could've brought them into the Federation."

"The talks between the Geth and the Quarians are breaking down," the Admiral said with a sigh. "That fanatic Daro'Xen is raising all kinds of hell, and the Geth are petitioning to join the Federation on grounds that they are actual lifeforms. The last thing we need is a war between us and the Republic, let alone the rest of the galaxy on your side and the Quarians."

"Ironically, the only thing keeping that from happening is the Terminus systems."

"The Quarians just want their homeworld back, along with the other former Quarian worlds from beyond the veil," Jaden said. "Until I get Genesis to work - which probably won't be for a LONG time - Rannoch is one of the few planets capable of supporting Quarian life due to their weak immune systems. Next time I see Legion, I'll need to ask him what the chances are of the Geth giving Quarian space back to them, and finding a new sector of space where they can evolve in peace."

"We've been working on it," Graham said. "Unfortunately, both sides want one thing: to stay on Rannoch. I've gotten my talons on one of the new _Palavens_ being built on this side: the _Kaiser_. She'll be assigned to your task force in a few weeks, and I want you to test her against the _Frontier_: see how both ships handle one an-"

"_Admiral, we're receiving a hail from an… Admiral Pinkerton and Captain Takeo? That can't be right._"

"Oh right, our parallel universe counterparts," Jaden said. "Didn't we send a report on that?"

"You did." Graham said, "Unfortunately, DTI decided to get involved. Patch them through."

The faces of both men appeared on the monitor. "_Oh, wonderful, the Old Man's in charge of Kuban Sanjuichi on THEIR side, too._"

"Do you have a… problem with me, Admiral?"

"_Just the usual bullshit your flunkies give me and my task force._"

"Glad to see you all made it though," Jaden said. "Any issues with installing the Mass Effect cores to your ships?"

"_None, Commander, but I have a bit of an issue with you. You sent a ship through that SHOT at ours and tried to hijack the_ Intimidator _AND the_ Enterprise-B."

"What?"

The Starfleet Jaden decided to explain. "_The ship used Starfleet technology, but wasn't using the design. Are you familiar with this ship?_"

Jaden looked at the design, before he groaned "_That _would be a Cerberus-built Dreadnought," he groaned. "They're a human survivalist group from my universe. They're basically terrorists, and they're the ones who captured, stripped, and scrapped our Ron's universe's _Enterprise-B._"

"…_They must be insane._"

"_Congratulations, Commander, you just pissed me off. I was on The List for that ship. Expect my task force to be joining you once those cockbites decide to show up in force. We'll be at Sha Ka Ree in 16 hours. _Intimidator _Actual out._" The Admiral disappeared from the monitor, leaving the other Jaden.

"_Fuckers are dead as far as I'm concerned,_" Jaden said with a growl. "_No one scraps a Big-E, in our universe or this one._"

"Feel free to join us in taking them down," Commander Jaden said. "I have a feeling we'll be fighting Cerberus for quite a while these next few months."

"If you get the chance to visit Earth, we have some intel that could be useful to your counterparts in Delta Alliance Command," Graham said. "And… it would be a good thing to see the _Enterprise_-B. Considering ours is gone."

"_Got it, we'll head to Earth once we get the chance,_" Jaden said. "Enterprise _out._"

The captain disappeared from the monitor, and Graham looked at Jaden. "Two weeks, Commander, then you get to test the _Kaiser_ against our flagship," he said. "Knowing the _Odyssey_-Class, it's probably going to win, but I know you're going to put up one hell of a fight."

Jaden shrugged. "You never know, Admiral," he said with a grin. "_Frontier's_ got a few tricks up her sleeves. But we'll be ready, don't worry."

"I know you will be. get some rest: you're going to need it. Dismissed."

* * *

_**Omega**_

* * *

"You have got to be fucking KIDDING ME!" The Klingons had FINALLY pushed into the lower levels of the inhabited zone of the station, and Aria was not happy. And her day was going to get far, far FAR worse.

"Aira! We've got additional ships coming in!" A Batarian shouted out.

"More Klingons? FUCKING GREAT!" She shouted.

"No, they're not Klingons…" The Batarian said, before he growled. "ID confirmed! There Cerberus!"

"What?!" The station rocked, and Aria wondered what the hell the human supremacists were THINKING. Stolen technology or not, the Klingons would mop the floor with them. Speaking of the Klingons… "Where's that Klingon fleet? They should've taken those bastards out!"

"They got recalled to some staging point fifteen minutes ago! There's only two ships out there, and… Spirits. That's not possible." Aria knocked the Turian out of the way and saw the ship. _Excelsior_-Class, with Cerberus markings. All but the name and registry. THAT read USS _Enterprise_ NCC-1701-B.

"The _Enterprise_-B…" Aria muttered, "I thought we were told Cerberus Scrapped that thing!"

"Looks like they lied." The Turian said, "And it looks like it's been upgraded with Cerberus tech, Starfleet tech…"

The _Enterprise_ fired another volley of photon torpedoes at the station, and two troop ships docked with the station, offloading Cerberus troopers of all kinds.

"_Hello, Aria._"

The Asari looked at a hologram of the Illusive Man, known to most of the galaxy now as Jack Harper. "You. Why the fuck are you taking over my station?!"

"_Simple. I need it. General Petrovsky will be taking it from you momentarily. As for your fleet… I'm taking care of that personally._"

Aria growled. Between the Klingons and Cerberus, she didn't really have much choice but to abandon Omega… for now, at least.

The bullets began to fly the moment she left the club, with Cerberus troopers (Centurions, if her intel was correct) firing at her, her escorts AND the Klingons that just breached that level. "Fuck!" She fired her Blood Pack SMG at the Cerberus troopers, while her escorts tried to get her out safely. Needless to say, it wasn't ending so well, as Klingons, Omega residents AND Cerberus troops began one hell of a shooting war. "This is my fucking station!"

A voice was heard over the station-wide comm system a moment later. "_Attention, Omega residents, this is General Patrovsky. Omega is now under my control. Surrender, and you will not be harmed. The alternative isn't as… pleasant._"

Aria growled again as she slipped onto an escape shuttle. She'd run for now, but eventually she would return. She vowed that Omega would be hers again.

The shuttle launched, under fire from the Cerberus fleet, and most importantly, the _Enterprise_-B. The craft made contact with the mass relay, escaping, but only to a point: it was heavily damaged. It would take six months to reach Federation territory, but she would get there. And get revenge.

* * *

_**Earth - May 15th, 2186**_

* * *

Shepard smiled as she watched a small child play with a toy Trident fighter. The admission process for the Systems Alliance to join the Federation was almost complete, from what little visits from Hitomi had told her, and the Salarian Union had, after enough humbling and legal ass-whooping, joined the Federation less than five weeks before. But the happy times were not to last.

"Commander Shepard?" a soldier named James Vega asked as he stepped into the room.

"You're not supposed to call me a Commander, Vega," Shepard replied

"Not supposed to salute, either, but that's not stopping me. Come on, the committee's waiting."

"Sounds important," Shepard remarked, as she followed Vega out of the room.

"Nicole!" Hitomi yelled as Shepard turned her head to see her wife running toward her, but didn't stop.

"Hitomi, we don't have-"

"They called me, too," Hitomi informed. "Hell, they called everyone."

That was proven seconds later by Anderson talking with Ashley and Kaidan, as well as Ron of all people, carrying a… "Is that a Tommy Gun?"

"Shepard, Hitomi!" Ashley called out as she spotted them. "Good to see you!"

"Shepard, I see you've acclimated," Ron said.

"What's with the ancient gun?" Shepard asked.

"This is my Tommy gun: picked it up on Sigma Iota II," Ron informed. "And I have a feeling it's going to come in handy. It's harvest time."

"What?"

"It has been exactly six months, 21 hours and 15 minutes since we destroyed the Alpha Relay. Take a hint."

Shepard's eyes widened. "You think the Reapers are coming?"

"According to calculations he did when he got the warning, he's thinking today's when they hit," Kaidan replied. "Captain Yamato is still in orbit on his ship, but he'll be at the meeting through the comm systems."

"If the committee thinks we can TALK the Reapers to death-"

"If we could, then the Protheans would've done that 50 centuries ago. We're ready for them, thanks to Starfleet."

"And so are the Reapers, thanks to Cain."

The Starfleet captain, and the Shepard couple, followed Anderson, leaving the Alenkos and Vega behind. "You two know Shepard?" Vega asked.

"We did," Kaidan replied.

"Where's the _Ra-Cailum_?" Shepard asked Ron

"In orbit, along with the few ships we could spare."

"You have a fleet of 40,000 ships, Ron!"

"And we have our own universe to worry about!"

"Well, let's get this meeting over with," Hitomi remarked. "The sooner we confirm what's going on, the sooner we can get Nicole back into action."

They entered the committee's meeting room, and Ron picked up a compression rifle from the guard as he entered. "Wait, you got rid of your CR?"

"Fuck no. I had to give it to that jackass when I got down here."

The committee chairman looked at Shepard. "Commander Shepard."

"What in the hell's going on?" Shepard asked.

"We were hoping you could tell us."

"Whole colonies have gone dark - we've lost contact with everything beyond the Sol Relay."

"Then you called us here to confirm what you already knew: the Reapers are here."

Then the screens activated. "_**HELLO.**_"

Ron looked mortified. "Oh, my god. _Portal _turret!"

"_**I'M DIFFERENT.**_"

"Great, the reapers are using psychological warfare on us."

"Now what do we do?!"

"Fight or die; that much should be cle… ar… Uh-oh."

"Oh, Frak," Hitomi muttered as Reapers descended over Earth.

The next Reaper to land was none other than Harbinger. "_**SHEPARD.**_"

"He's pissed," Ron remarked. "GET DOWN!"

The Reaper fired its' main weapon at the building, and the result was rather predictable.

Shepard ducked under a flying desk, before another pulse knocked her back, flying into a wall.

A VERY loud voice brought her back out of it. "Shepard, get your ass UP! We need to get to the _Normandy_!"

She shook her head as Anderson and Hitomi helped her up. "What just happened?" she asked.

"Harby happened; now let's GO!" Ron yelled as he jumped out of the window, running along the infrastructure, followed by the Alliance officers. "Take, we have a fucking Reaper shitstorm down here! Get Harbinger off my ass!"

"_We've got Reapers coming out of the woodwork up here, Ron!_" Takeshi called back. "_I wouldn't be surprised if the entire Reaper Armada's out here!_"

An Alliance dreadnought opened fire on the Reaper in question, having descended into the atmosphere to fight the Reapers attacking humanity's home, but did almost nothing to the damn thing. "Fucking hell, WHY did the Reapers decide to invade Earth FIRST?!" Anderson asked.

"We pissed them off, Anderson!" Ron yelled.

"Come on, keep moving!" Hitomi called out. "If Harby turns his gun on that Dreadnought-"

The Reaper leader (if there ever WAS one) fired on the dreadnought, destroying the ship in one shot, as per usual, and knocking them all off the building, sliding toward the waterfront. "FUUUCCCKKK!" Thankfully, they didn't fall into the water, which, at first glance, was INFESTED with husks. "Reaper fucks! Play fair, assholes!"

"I don't think they're interested in 'playing fair', Ron," Hitomi remarked.

"I'm bitching for the sake of bitch-" A bullet missed Ron's head by millimeters. "Son of a bitch!" A roar was heard, and that was when they saw what looked to be deformed Batarians. "Oh, fucking LOVELY. Batarian husks!"

"Jeez, what races _haven't_ they turned into Husks yet?" Hitomi asked.

"I haven't seen Asari or Turian ones!" Ron opened fire on the Batarians, actually managing to kill one with the Thompson.

"Wait, how the fuck-"

"Tritanium bullets, and they don't have kinetic barriers!"

"Well, that's handy!" Shepard replied, firing at them with the pistol they'd gotten earlier as Hitomi opened up with an Avenger Assault Rifle - her weapon of choice after she'd been brought back.

Ron's drum mag ran out, and he reloaded before tossing the weapon to Shepard and drawing his kilij, which, after the incident in Bahak, he had decided to, reluctantly, keep it on him at all times. "Oh, don't tell me he's pulling a Leeroy Jenkins out of his ass!"

They then watched dumbstruck as he charged the Husks, bellowing out a loud battlecry as he ran forward.

"Cover him!" Shepard yelled, picking up a Mantis from the ground and taking aim.

Needless to say, the man's rampage DID clear the way, at least for now. "Note to self: NEVER piss Ron off to that degree," Anderson remarked.

Ron tapped his commbadge, a scowl on his face. "Pinkerton to any allied ship: respond!"

"_This is Lieutenant Jeff Moreau of the _Normandy_: how may I direct your call?_"

"Joker, that is NOT funny! Get your crippled ass down here and PICK US UP!"

"_On our way now,_" Joker replied. "_Homing in on your commbadge: ETA two minutes._"

The Batarian husks began firing at them, and EATING the dead in order to gain some form of armor. "They're fucking cannibals?!"

"That name works!" Shepard opened fire with Ron's 'lent' Thompson, the tritanium bullets punching through the armor as easily as anything else while Ron finally pulled out the compression rifle and opened fire.

"JOKER, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

"_Inbound right now,_" Joker replied. "_Cavalry has arrived._" As he said that, two missiles from the _Normandy_ flew down and impacted, destroying all the Husks.

"About time. Let's go: I've had enough of this ground shit." A husk, missing it's legs, crawled after them, but Ron simply shot it with his compression rifle.

"You are REALLY pissed."

"I hadn't noticed." Three of them ran straight to the Normandy, jumping into the open hatch.

"Nice to see you, Shepard."

"Thanks, Ashley," Shepard replied. She then looked back to where Anderson had just come up to the ramp. "Come on, Anderson!"

"I'm not going!"

"What?!"

"You saw those men on the shore!" Anderson said, pointing to where there were some downed soldiers. "There's a million more like them, and they need a leader!"

"If you're staying-"

"You need to get to the Citadel! Get us help! And if they don't listen, MAKE them listen!"

"I don't take orders from you anymore, Anderson, remember?!"

"Then consider yourself reinstated - Commander," Anderson replied as he threw Shepard her Alliance Dog Tags. "You know what you have to do!"

Anderson ran down the ramp, heading for a Kodiak shuttle, just as another Reaper, this one being much smaller, landed. "_**HELLO.**_"

Ashley and Kaidan looked at Ron. "Uh-"

"I know. They're doing that to fuck with us. And dare I say it's WORKING." Three Kodiaks took off, but the Reaper fired two shots at them, shooting down all but Anderson's. Joker got the Normandy out of there, and Ron made his way to the bridge, just in time to see the _Tempest_ firing on another mini-Reaper. "Take, how's the target practice?"

"_Well, have to say those fine tunings you finally managed to pull off are helping!_" Takeshi replied. "_And the upgrades we figured out from the subcontracted equipment are certainly making us harder to hit!_" There was a brief pause. "_Still, they've had some upgrades, too - I don't think we can hold much longer!_"

"Then, as acting commander of the Earth defense fleet… Fall back to the Sol relay. There's nothing we can do here." Five Sovereign-class Reapers surrounded an _Envoy_-Class starship, then opened fire on it. The _Envoy_ fought back, killing two of the Reapers and mortally wounding another, but the Reapers DID destroy the Starfleet ship, whose warp core exploded, destroying the rest. "Wolf 359 all over again."

The mood was somber as what was left of the fleet retreated from Earth, leaving any survivors on the surface behind.

"Joker, set a course for Mars."

Joker raised an eyebrow, but obeyed. "Mars? copy that, Commander."

"Take, get your ass over here: Sheppy's got something for us, apparently. Set a course for Mars and tell the _Ra-Cailum_ to head back to the Citadel."

"_Understood,_" Takeshi replied. "_We'll see you at Mars._"

"I'm getting my armor. Fucking Christ, I hate ground ops."

* * *

The _Normandy_ launched a Kodiak shuttle, filled with Shepard, Hitomi, Vega, Ashley, Kaidan, and Ron, who was piloting. "Mars polar station, this is Captain Ronald Pinkerton, UFP Starfleet. Please respond." Ron said, however he recieved no reply. "Repeat, this is Captain Ronald Pinkerton, UFP Starfleet. Please respond."

"No answer?" Shepard asked

"Not a fucking thing."

"EDI?"

"_I am detecting no signs of communications activity,_" EDI reported. "_However, there are several life-signs within the base._"

"Never a good sign when no one wants to talk," Ron said as he put the helmet on his head, and left the cockpit as the shuttle put down. "If there are any Reaper forces down here, shoot first."

"Got it," Hitomi replied.

The team left the shuttle, with Shepard on point as usual. "Hell of a storm coming in," Vega remarked.

"I've seen bigger," Ron replied.

The signs of things going wrong showed up two minutes after landing, where they found a dead body. "Alliance Marine. Wasn't done by husks: those are gunshot wounds."

"Then what killed-" A bang was heard, and the team got the idea.

"I think we have a few friends."

"Then let's give them a proper welcome, ne?" Hitomi asked as she drew her assault rifle.

Rounding a rock wall, they sighted a number of Alliance personnel, kneeling on the ground, with men wearing white armor shooting them in the head. "Cerberus," Ron remarked.

"How the hell can you tell?" Shepard asked. "I can't see anything-"

"Artificial eye: I can see the emblems on their armor."

The Cerberus troopers looked in their direction. Mistake.

"Oh, shit, it's Shepard!"

"Open fire!"

Ron obeyed the trooper's orders, only firing on THEM. "Die, assholes!"

Hitomi let loose a Biotic Charge, teleporting into the midst of the Cerberus forces, before drawing her sword and slicing a large number of them in half.

The rest did the smart thing and ran. Like lemmings. Off a cliff. Literally, much to Vega's amusement. "Oh, I wish it was always that easy."

"Don't we all," Ashley said. "But what the hell was Cerberus doing here? And don't say you don't know, Shepard."

Shepard looked back at Ashley. "I don't," she said. "The only thing involving Cerberus I've done is getting brought back to life. And stealing the _Normandy_."

"And what an epic theft it was," Ron said. They entered the garage airlock, and Ron quickly shut the hatch.

However just as they passed the airlock itself, they heard a loud explosion followed by a loud yell "YES! I STILL LOVE THIS GUN!"A familiar voice shouted, followed by screams of panic, likely from Cerberus troopers.

"Jaden. I knew he was assigned to Mars, I just thought it was OUR Mars." The lift stopped, and two troopers fell to the ground from an upper balcony. "Commander, if you're done enjoying yourself, we could use a bit of help getting up there!"

"Ron!" Jaden shouted. "Hot damn, glad to see you! We tried to send a message back to Earth, but Cerberus was jamming the comms! Hang on, I'll lower the lift…"

More gunfire was heard, this time from the vents. "What the hell is this, Aliens?"

The closest vent opened, and out tumbled an Asari. An Asari they knew. "Liara?!"

"There's the Asari bit - Oh, fuck! Not THEM!"

"Surprise!" They opened fire on the troopers coming out of the vent, downing them in seconds.

"Good to see you again, Liara," Hitomi remarked. "What are you doing here, though?"

"I was searching the Prothean archives here for something, ANYTHING that could help us with the Reapers."

"Good work on that, Liara, but that doesn't answer the question of Cerberus being here."

"Can that wait until AFTER we've kicked them out of this place?"

"I agree!" Jaden shouted as additional Cerberus troops came marching in. "Clear the area, _then _we talk about what's going on here!"

"Biotics will easily take care of them! Give the word and-" Ron simply tossed up a photon grenade, set to a moderate yield. Of course, 'moderate' to Starfleet was 'overly excessive' to everyone else, as it destroyed the upper walkway, turning it more into a ramp.

"That might've been a BIT too high."

"A BIT?!"

"Regardless, think we have a way up now," Shepard replied, pointing at the new ramp.

"So, Cerberus wants whatever's in the Prothean archives?"

"Yes," Liara replied. "It's a device of some sort. It might be a weapon we can use."

Ron looked back at Vega. "Head back to the shuttle. We're going to need air support, and I've read your file."

"Oh, come on-"

"GO, Vega!" The N7 wavered under the glare of both his personal hero AND the ex-drone, not to mention her wife AND Jaden. "Just like old times. Only worse."

* * *

It was, indeed, worse: the Illusive Asshole (Ron's words) had partly husked his troopers, they had to dodge a heavy turret's fire and they lost contact with the _Normandy_. At least they had arrived at the archives.

"Liara, start getting the data." Jaden said, "We need to get out of here before the Reapers decide to show up."

Liara sat at a computer terminal, and got to work, but not before they were greeted by the man they DIDN'T want to see. "_Shepard. Jaden. Pinkerton._"

Liara stood up, pointing her weapon at the hologram. "Illusive Man."

"We all know his name. What the fuck do YOU want, Harper?"

The Illusive Man looked at the archive. "_What I've always wanted: to bring humanity to the apex of evolution. By controlling the Reapers, I can DO that._"

"You're delusional, Harper," Shepard remarked. "There's no way someone can control the Reapers!"

"_That's you to a tee, Shepard: small minded. You can't see the big picture. The Reapers are machines. Highly intelligent, organic-based machines, but machines._"

"Like your troopers? You've turned them into monsters."

"_Hardly: they've been improved._"

"Harper, even if the Reapers _could_ be controlled, do you really think a human would be able to?" Hitomi asked. "They are machines, yes, but they're incredibly intelligent - if it was possible for it to be done, one of the cycles that came before us would have done it already!"

"_They didn't think hard enough. I have. This Prothean device holds the key to their domination._"

"Harper, for fuck's sake, just surrender control of Cerberus to the Alliance: Earth has fallen, and they need all the resources they can get!"

The Illusive Man looked at Ron. "_Your Federation has had its' time. Now it is time for humanity to take control, as they always should have. Don't get in my way._"

"I'll say it again, Harper: you're delusional, and possibly Indoctrinated," Shepard informed. "Controlling the Reapers is something that just cannot be done."

"Shepard!" Liara called out. "The data: it's being erased!"

"Oh, that little bitch," Ron remarked. "Kaidan, Ashley, that Cerberus whore is in here. Find her."

"Got it, Cap."

"Aye, sir."

"_Your efforts are futile, Shepard. The only way to save the galaxy from the Reapers is to dominate them. When I accomplish that, you'll finally understand._"

"Fuck. You."

"Found her!" Ashley called out, before a human-looking woman ran away.

"After her!" Shepard yelled.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU CERBERUS WHORE!"

The chase led them from one end of the station to the other, with Core` firing at them the whole way.

"She's not human!"

"We kinda get the incredible bullshit she's pulling, Ron-"

"No, Jaden, she ISN'T human! She's a fucking android!"

"That explains that!"

"Except how the hell did Cerberus get their hands on an android?!" Hitomi yelled.

"Modified mech platform, based on Geth and human technology! She's not as advanced as Data! Hell, the closest thing anyone's gotten to replicating Data's positronic brain is the shit inside my head!" The Cerberus droid arrived on the roof, and a Cerberus Kodiak dropped down to pick her up. "Normandy?! Joker! ANYONE?!"

"_I'm on it, Cap!_" Vega called out as their own Kodiak sped into view, slamming into the side of the Cerberus Kodiak.

The Cerberus shuttle didn't have as good a time as the Alliance one, as it was damaged beyond repair. "Alenkos, if you will?"

"Yeah, yeah, we'll get the Cerberus robot," Kaidan remarked. "Why is it always us?"

They approached the shuttle, but didn't expect the robot to fling the wreckage aside and grab them, then proceed to beat the living shit out of them. "What the hell are you doing?! Shoot!"

"I can't, not with them in the way!"

The mech eyed the pair. "Orders?"

"_Finish them._"

Core` bashed them against the shuttle, but Shepard opened fire with her pistol, getting her attention. The mech ran toward her, but got caught in two phaser beams hitting it in the chest before crashing to the ground.

"_Shepard, we've got Reapers out the ass incoming!_" Joker reported. "_The _Tempest'_s holding them off, but-_"

"Ron, the mech!" Shepard ordered. "Hitomi, Jaden, get Ashley and Kaidan!"

"I. Hate. Cerberus."

Ron picked up the android in a fireman's carry, while Hitomi and Jaden more gingerly picked up the Alenkos and carried them into the Kodiak.

The shuttle took off, and Ron kicked Vega out of the pilot's seat. "What, think you're a better pilot?" Vega asked.

"My sister is a better pilot," Ron replied. "You can barely keep this thing from crashing."

The shuttle landed on the _Normandy_, which left the atmosphere under escort from the _Raging Tempest_.

"Joker, get us to the Citadel," Shepard ordered.

"_Aye, aye, Commander,_" Joker replied.

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

"Reports are coming in," Rina informed. "Arcturus Station has been destroyed, the Alliance 5th Fleet has been wiped out and so have nine out of the fifteen support ships we sent to support them. The Reapers used mass of numbers to overwhelm our more powerful ships."

"Just like they did at Earth," Takeshi remarked. "Even with, presumably, that Human Reaper and its upgrades, they know they can't face us in a straight-up fight, so they're making it a battle of attrition."

"Even so, sir, the Reapers took as many losses as the Alliance," Rina continued. "For every ship we lost, the Reapers lost six to seven. But they couldn't take out the _Huascar_, a _Sovereign_-Class ship. Every ship they took out was a _Galaxy_-Class, _Ambassador_ or an escort."

"So our newer, larger ships stand better chance against the sheer numbers they're throwing at us," Takeshi summarized.

"Still," Brok'tan rumbled, "who knows just how many forces the Reapers still have. If it's enough to continue their current strategy indefinitely, they will eventually overpower us."

"We do have one thing that the Reapers can't counter."

"Oh?"

"The _Odyssey_-Class. It's the most powerful ship we have: the Reapers have no idea how to fight an _Odyssey_."

"True, but we've only got so many of those," Takeshi replied. "We'll need to figure out how best to use their abilities, but if these Reapers are anything at all like the Borg, they'll adapt eventually."

Rina looked back at the communications console. "Sir, call from Admiral Ushiromiya incoming. Code Factor One confirmed."

"The Reapers are invading Illium," Takeshi replied. "It IS Starfleet's largest outpost here off of Thessia. Put it through."

"On it, sir," Rina informed.

The redhead in question looked a little worse for wear, and considering the massive number of Reaper fighters and the three Sovereign-types getting shot at by the defense fleet, Takeshi couldn't blame her. "_Captain, we have confirmation of a Cerberus task force at Eden Prime, and at Omega,_" she said. "_Explains why the station's been dark for the last five months. Whenever you get the chance, get yourself, the _Ra-Cailum_, and the _Normandy _to either location. I don't know what they want with Eden Prime, but we aren't going to let them have it._"

"Understood, Ma'am," Takeshi replied. "Once we regroup with the _Ra-Cailum_ at the Citadel, we'll head over to Eden Prime."

"_I'd wish you luck-_" The station rocked on screen, and the sight of a three-nacelled _Sovereign_ flew past, gunning down a Reaper. "_But we need it more!_"

"_Warning: Intruder Alert. Warning: Intrude-_" The screen suddenly returned the image of the stars going past.

"We lost the signal, Captain," Rina reported.

Takeshi sighed. "Admiral Ushiromiya was once on Ron's crew," he said. "She should be able to pull through this. Rina, contact the _Normandy_ \- let Shepard and Ron know the situation."

* * *

**Ron the True Fan: (Kosh voice) And so it begins.**

**Takeshi Yamato: Yep. ME2 has ended, and ME3 is upon us!**

**117Jorn: HERE COME THE REAPERS! *Geth Destroyer crashes down* Oh shit!**

**Geth Destroyer: **_**HELLO**_**. **

**Ron the True Fan: FUCK ME, GLADOS IS TAKING OVER! (Starts shooting at it with phaser rifle)**

**117Jorn: Well, we're gonna be busy! We should have the next chapter out soon! Ja Ne and all that shi! *Activates Jet pack and fires Plasma Rifle***


	7. Chapter 6: Battlefields of the galaxy

**Ron the True Fan: Do I LOOK like Gene Roddenberry, or that I work for Paramount or CBS?! Tell the bloodsucking lawyers to piss off!**

**Takeshi Yamato: We also don't own Mass Effect, or anything else that might make a cameo in this story… what can I say, I love importing things from other franchises and tweaking them to fit the destination! It still belongs to whomever created it, though.**

**117Jorn: We just own our characters and their shit. HIT IT! :D**

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**\- On approach to the Citadel**_

* * *

Shepard, to be honest, felt like shit. Even after doing EVERYTHING right, the Reapers still took Earth. "What about the fleet at Illium?"

"Kicking ass, if my old chief of security has anything to do with it. Ange Ushiromiya is probably making the Reapers run away with their pants down."

The _Normandy_ finally cleared the cloud belt, and that was when they saw her. "Uh, Cap? Correct me if I'm wrong-"

"You're right, Lieutenant. That is the _Enterprise_-B," Ron said with a sigh. "Just not… our _Enterprise_-B. EDI, can you please open a channel to Captain Takeo?"

"_Captain Pinkerton,_" Captain Jaden's voice was heard, before his image appeared on the front screen. "_Glad to see you again, and you Commander Takeo._"

"I see your CO, my counterpart, isn't here. And that you've brought a few friends." A seemingly redesigned _Yamato_-Class battleship hung beside the _Enterprise_-B, as well as another _Raging Tempest_ and a large task force of ships including one by the name USS _Damascus_. '_Isn't that my mother's old ship?_'

"_We got the approval from our Starfleet to help you guys out,_" Jaden said as he smirked. "_The Reapers are gonna get FUCKED, cause we've got something they could never get… a fleet of Pinkertons, Takeos and Yamatos._"

"This is a story I'm going to want to hear, Captain." Ron said, "Our Captain Yamato is going to be here in about an hour, so saddle up. We're going to be VERY busy."

"_We'll be ready,_" Jaden said nodding.

The link cut out. "Joker, Dock D24. My ship should be here in an hour, so you won't be putting up with me."

"Yeah, this'll be fun."

* * *

_**USS **_**Enterprise** _**NCC-1701-B - half an hour later**_

* * *

"Can you PLEASE just beam him over?"

"Remember those dark energy patterns and how we can't easily beam ANYTHING through them? We need a transporter pad on the other-" A tower of light was the sign of that as the captain of the _Ra-Cailum_ and the other Jaden re-materialized in the _Enterprise_-B's transporter room. "Side. Welcome aboard, Captain."

"Lieutenant. I assume Captain Takeo and company are waiting in one of the six or so conference rooms on board?"

"Uh, yes sir," The Lieutenant said, "Conference Room C, follow me please."

"Lieutenant, I have the blueprints for this ship inside my head: I know where I'm going." Ron walked out of the transporter room, with Jaden on his coattails. Not literally, but the idea was still there.

"Definitely reminds me of the images taken on your version of the B," Jaden said.

"Same ship, just refit." They entered a turbolift, and after a quick trip two decks up, they arrived at the conference room in question. And there were a LOT of captains there, all wearing different uniforms. But only one stood out. Same uniform as him, black hair, heterochromatic eyes and basically looking like an older Riza. "Mother?"

The Takeshi Yamato from that group blinked. "Wow… guess Ayame managed to find someone in that universe," he remarked.

The woman in question scowled. "Lovely. I assume you know my name?"

"Ayame Virgillia Pinkerton, named after our respective great-grandmother. You kept your name," Ron said, as he looked at all those gathered. "I recognize some of you, but… the rest either didn't exist or they died a long time ago. Care to explain?"

"Time Traveling nebula," Most of them all said at once.

"We don't know the details… but most of the people here intercepted some sort of… time traveling nebula," Captain Jaden said. "It either sent clones of them into the future, or it had clones replace themselves in their times."

"The weird shit migrated from the _Enterprise_-" Ron began before cutting himself off. "-no, that's wrong. This IS the _Enterprise_, so no wonder the weird shit's happening. So, what was your last mission before coming here?"

"Dealing with the empress of the Romulan Star Empire in the Delta Quadrant," Ayame said. "Long story, and it did not end well."

"That happened two years ago for us. What the hell? Is it still 2410 over there?"

"It is," Jaden said, "However it seems there are more differences in our universes than we initially believed."

"No shit." Ron said with a sigh "At least you don't have to deal with assholes that stole the _Enterprise-B_-"

"_Captain Takeo, this is the bridge._" T'Sani said, "_We're being hailed by Citadel Security: they want to transport someone by the name of Aria T'Loak on board. They say she has something to tell us._"

Captain Takeo looked at the two "Someone we should know?" He asked.

"Aira's pretty much the ruler of Omega, and a good chunk of the Terminus Systems." Jaden said, "Of course recently her rule has been challenged with the Klingons making a push into Terminus space… it seems she might have finally lost control of the station. She's pretty much their Pirate Queen… but she does have a lot of pull among the Terminus Systems, so she could be helpful when we take back Earth. Tell her we'll meet with her soon."

"_She's in the Citadel transporter - oh, hell._"

"She just beamed on board," Jaden predicted with a sigh. "And she's probably pissed off." The ship rocked slightly.

"Biotics. Hang on a moment. I know how to make her NOT use them."

"You can calm her down?"

"No, I've got the weapon to knock them out."

However, then their Comm activated once more "_Not necessary, Captain Pinkerton._" The voice of Aira T'Laok said, "_Sorry for the… intrusion, but as you can imagine we're short of time… and right now I am royally PISSED OFF. I have some… information you may find quite interesting._"

"Conference Room C, Deck 9, Section 14 Echo." Ron said with a sigh. "We're all in here."

"_As long as you can help me get my fucking station back._" All eyes went to Ron. One of the three wearing 2150s era uniforms voiced it. "How do you know EXACTLY where on this ship we are?"

"I have the blueprints inside my head, Captain...?"

"Ayame Takeo," she said. "And how?"

"I was assimilated by the Borg."

"WHAT?!" Everyone shouted at once, causing both Jaden and Ron to wince.

"Jeez! Yeah! He was assimilated by the Borg, but he got de-assimilated," Jaden said, shaking his head. "Hell, those Borg Implants still inside him saved our asses more than once…"

"How in the hell is the Federation still around?" Captain Takeo asked. "If YOU were assimilated-"

"What the hell's so important about me being assimilated by the Borg?" Ron asked.

"Because I'm a fleet killer." The other door to the conference room opened, and in came the other Ronald Pinkerton, wearing his 2278-era red uniform. "Sorry I'm late: the Reapers in Illium orbit were not making it easy to get to the mass relay."

"Ah… well that explains the freakout then." Jaden said nodding. "Well, our Ron is badass, but I haven't seen him slaughter an entire Reaper Fleet… yet."

"Ha!" Another man who looked like an older version of Jaden shouted, "Reapers: they're nothing compared to what we dealt with back in the 23rd Century. On the _Exeter_, we took on Tholians, Klingons, Romulans-"

"Anything under the sun, Ishmael. And they STILL hate me for it." Ron let out a breath as Aria entered the room, then looked at EVERYONE.

"What. The. Fuck."

"LONG Story Aira," Jaden said. "Not important. Now what is it?"

Aira looked at the others before she sighed. "I'm gonna need to get wasted after this…" she muttered before she looked at Jaden. "Takeo, I need your help. Cerberus took Omega from me."

"We figured as much," Jaden said.

"It gets worse, Pinkerton… s." She pressed a button on the monitor, and an image appeared of an Excelsior-Class starship in Cerberus colors.

"So?" Ron asked.

She slammed her hand on the controls, zooming in on the saucer's name and registry. USS _Enterprise_ NCC-1701-B.

And then the eyes of everyone present widened. "The B…" Jaden muttered. "But… Cerberus said-"

"They lied," Aira said. "Your _Enterprise-B _is apparently acting as the Flagship of The Illusive Man's fleets."

"Oh, that is so not kosher it's not even funny," said a man who looked like an older Takeshi. "Scrapping a Big-E's bad enough, but turning it against the Federation?!"

"Screw trials. Forget leaving him alive. I will PERSONALLY end his fucking LIFE. NO ONE touches the _Enterprise_."

"Agreed," said a woman who looked like a cross between Takeshi and Hitomi. "He goes down, and he goes down _hard_."

"Thank you, Miss T'Loak. you're dismissed."

"I think you forgot the rule, Captain. No one fucks with Aria, not even Star-"

A green phaser beam made contact with her chest, fired over Ron's shoulder. "I think YOU forgot the rule, Miss T'Loak. YOU do not FUCK with Starfleet. If we wanted to, we would've taken Omega from you, and spat you out of a fucking torpedo tube. Thankfully for you, Starfleet doesn't condone such actions. Now, get off this ship before I MAKE you get off this ship."

Aira just growled as she activated her Omni-tool, and a few moments later she transported out.

"We can't target Omega. Not yet. We have limited intel and none of you have the experience we have."

The door opened again, producing two women that the Captain knew: a former Cerberus engineer under Jaden and his own, both wearing the brick-reds. "Boss! We made… the… guns… holy fuck, there ARE two of you."

"The curse of the _Enterprise_," Admiral Ron informed, before turning to Captain Ron. "I assume you have one of your own on the _Ra-Cailum_?"

"My chief engineer," Captain Ron replied. "Settle down, Commander Henderson, and tell us what you have."

The other Sonja produced an old style FN P90. "Our latest creation. Say goodbye to those unwieldy ME guns: this thing uses the same mass effect technology, with a reusable heat sink. Overheats, swap out for another. It's based on the magazine for the gun, and we've got a few more ready for use."

"Nice," other Takeshi said. "I still prefer my sword, but this will make a good backup weapon."

"There IS a drawback: the heat sinks are built into magazine types. Say, an ME G36 can use a magazine for an ME M4, but not an AK type."

"Familiarity comes with a price, Sonja, but it's a price I'm willing to pay, as those weapons we took were too hard to handle. I'd rather have a weapon I can handle with ease."

The intercom activated again. "_Captain, we're being hailed by… another_ Raging Tempest."

Captain looked at Admiral. "Put him through, T'Sani," Admiral Ron replied.

"_Ron,_" Takeshi said as his image appeared on a monitor. "_And… Ron… guess our counterparts decided to come over, eh? Anyway, we've got an assignment from Ushiromiya - Cerberus troops have been spotted at Omega and at Eden Prime, and she wants us to check out Eden Prime, see what they want there._"

Ron looked at his 23rd Century counterpart. Clearly, it was now up to the Admiral. "The _Intimidator _and _Enterprise_-B will be joining you. And speaking of the B… Commander Takeo?"

"Yes?" Both Jadens said, before they looked at one another.

"He said Commander, not Captain," Jaden said, as Captain Takeo rolled his eyes. "Anyways, yes?"

"You're the unfortunate bearer of bad news," Ron said. "Tell him what we just found out."

Jaden sighed. "Takeshi… remember when we told you guys the _Enterprise-B _got scrapped?" he asked.

"_Yeah?_"

"TIM lied," he said. "Don't know how he managed it, but he refitted the B with Cerberus upgrades, it's his flagship now."

Takeshi sighed and facepalmed. "_That is so not kosher it's not even funny,_" he said. "_If I run into him, he'll be lucky if all I do is make him a head shorter!_"

"Get in line. In the meantime, resupply and get ready for a trip to Eden Prime: we have a job to do. The rest of the task force will remain here to ward off any idiots who decide to attack the Citadel while we're gone."

"_Understood,_" Takeshi replied. "_We'll make our preparations. Raging Tempest out._"

The man disappeared from the monitor as the Vice Admiral looked at the 'troops'. "You have your orders." Admiral Ron said, "Starfleet command, ours, at least, wants us to end this before it spills into our universe. Knowing our luck, it WILL spill into our universe regardless, but orders are orders. Dismissed."

The others nodded as they left the room, Jaden and Ron leaving together. "Where should we start off first?" Jaden asked, "As much as I want to head straight to Omega, I think it goes without saying we've got bigger cuttlefish to fry."

"Eden Prime is our first target," Ron said. "Cerberus wants something there. I think denying anything Harper wants is a good start to revenge. Still, gear up for anything: for all we know, he's got more than Atlae and ground troops."

"I'm always geared up for anything," Jaden said. "Starfleet just prompted me to be prepared for anything and then some."

* * *

_**Eden Prime - 14 hours later**_

* * *

A single Cerberus cruiser floated in orbit, proudly bearing the emblems of the organization it served. Its' short existence, however, was brought to a VERY abrupt end when a high-powered phaser beam hacked through the ship, from stem to stern. "Intimidator _to_ Ra-Cailum: _our uninvited friends have been dealt with. you are clear to send the landing party._"

Ron chuckled. "Copy that, _Intimidator_." He said as he sat down in the _Osiris'_ pilot's seat, looking back at his red-wearing counterpart. "Your crew is more than a little-"

"_They know their jobs. Besides, now WE have air superiority._"

"Can't argue with that," Jaden said. "Let's head down there and find out what Cerberus is so interested in… hard to believe we're back right where it started, eh?"

"Taking us down." The Delta Flyer-Class shuttle headed directly for the main settlement, and there was a clear Cerberus presence all over the place. "Seeing mechs, shuttles - oh look, a target." The 'target' was an airborne Cerberus Kodiak. "Jaden, weapons control is all yours."

"Got it," he said as he activated the weapons to the _Delta Flyer._ "Engaging." He fired the Shuttle's phasers which hit the Kodiak, impacting against its shields "Well he upgraded his own Shuttles it seems… one sec." He fired a second shot, and the shields couldn't maintain themselves before they collapsed, and the Phaser torse the Shuttle to pieces. "He's gone."

"Admiral, get ready for a shitstorm: they know we're here."

"Just get this thing on the ground: my sister and Jaden can handle the rest." The _Osiris_ touched down, and unleashed a number of Starfleet personnel: the Admiral himself, captain Takeo, the Admiral's Riza and several officers from the _Enterprise_-B and the _Intimidator_. "While they take care of the Cerberus assholes on the ground, we have the not-so-fun job of finding whatever the fuck Cerberus wants with this godforsaken planet."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Jaden said. "Look for the highest concentration of Cerberus Troops. Whatever it is they're guarding, that's what we're after."

"With the local resistance fucking around - hello, what is this? I'm detecting something near the dig site. Looks to be a stasis pod of some kind: sort of like the ones the Vaadwaur are so fond of using."

"A Stasis Pod?" Jaden asked. "What's a Stasis pod doing here?"

"It's not Vaadwaur: too old. And… I'm picking up a lifesign in it. A VERY close match to Collector signatures. I'm locking onto it and beaming it on board."

* * *

"I thought these assholes would go down HARDER!" Two Cerberus troopers died at the end of the Admiral's ME G36E assault rifle, before a Phantom was hacked in half by Riza's scythe. "Jaden, PLEASE tell me you found something that ISN'T cannon fodder."

"No dice." Jaden said shaking his head, followed by an explosion. "Looks like Cerberus standards have fallen since Ex-Cerberus took over half their assets away. These guys are fighting like militia, not soldiers. They're probably fresh recruits, not veterans."

Thuds were heard as an Atlas mech marched over. "You have got to be fucking kidding me. I thought we were DONE with mechs with the Voth and Vaadwaur!" The mech opened fire on the Admiral, who was forced to take cover and run. Even his new personal shields wouldn't last long against that thing.

"You must be Admiral Pinkerton, from the other universe."

Ron barely ducked under an attack from a man wearing green armor and a VERY sharp machete. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Most call me Locus," the figure said. "You may not be the Pinkerton that killed Cain… but you'll do for now."

Ron drew his monomolecular kilij and began parrying and dodging attack after attack. "Why the fuck does Sanjuichi ALWAYS employ the insane ones?!"

"Insanity is relative, Admiral. I always complete my objectives."

"Kiss. My. Ass."

"I'd ask you to surrender… though I think we both know that's not happening," Locus said as he fired a Grenade Launcher at Ron. The 42-year old Admiral barely avoided getting hit by both the grenade and the explosion it caused, and Locus was about to learn why that was a VERY bad idea.

"Let me show you what a _real _soldier is like, Pinkerton." Locus said as he reloaded his Grenade launcher, before firing it once more.

Before he could fire again, the weapon was hacked in half. By Ron's VERY pissed off sister. The S31 agent was not ready for this. "Locus, I presume?" The man pulled out a phaser rifle, but the younger woman's scythe batted it away. "Allow me to inform you of the mistake you just made. You attacked my brother. Three months ago, the Vaadwaur killed him, then the Kobali tried to bring him back to life." Locus was NOT at all at ease about this as she approached. "After I found out, I gave the Kobali a VERY simple ultimatium: bring him back as a human being, or I would blow up their new homeworld with a 200 isoton photon torpedo. What in the FUCK makes you think you are going to get away with trying to kill him AGAIN?"

Locus just chuckled "Easy… I kill you, and then I finish him off." He said. Riza didn't respond, as she swung her Scythe once more, however Locus ducked under her swing and rolled forward. She jumped back to avoid Locus slicing her with his own Kukri Knife. "You're out of your league. I am a trained combat veteran of Section 31… your a Starfleet Helmsman who's good with a Scythe. You do the math."

Riza's eyes narrowed as she charged in again, raising her Scythe for another downward swing. However, Locus rose his own knife as the blades connected - and Riza was honestly surprised as his Knife held up against her's. "You think you're the only one who has Molecularly sharpened blades?" He then grabbed the upper half of the Scythe, and kicked Riza away. He then proceeded to take the blade, and then break it in half, shattering it.

"Blades are unconventional in open areas such as these," Locus said, tossing the broken Scythe away. "Guns are much more practical. Wielding a massive scythe only makes you a bigger target. Knives are much more subtle, and effective."

"I would recommend not comparing me to your universe's Riza Pinkerton. I wasn't born on Earth." The Cerberus-employed agent scoffed and struck, only to find that this Riza knew just as much about CQC as he did. "I'm a clone that was practically raised by the Tal Shiar!"

"That explains how you're not dead yet. But that won't last you-"

"Hey, asshole!" A blue phaser beam hit Locus' personal shield. "First rule of multi-person combat: never focus on one person!"

Locus chuckled. "True, but here's the second rule: Don't fight alone." He said, and suddenly Ron's own shields took a hit, forcing him to go to cover. "Took you long enough, Felix."

"_That bitch was keeping me busy. Where the hell did you find her, Pinkerton?_"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The shadow of the _Osiris _flew overhead, and that was when they decided to retreat. They had nothing that could take a shuttle's phasers to protect them. "The mission seems to be a failure."

"We can kill them, Locus: that-"

"We lost the pod. We're leaving." both men disappeared in a column of light apiece.

Ron looked at the remains of Riza's scythe, shaking his head. "15 years, and NOW someone breaks the damn thing. how the fuck did he break something 21 times harder than diamond?"

"Doesn't matter. I can always fix it." The Admiral pulled out his communicator, opening the fliptop device. "Pinkerton to Osiris: I assume you've got whatever the hell they wanted?"

"_We picked up a stasis pod: seems to have a Prothean lifesign in it. I'm currently working on circumventing the lock._"

"_Let's hope this guy's friendly._" Jaden said.

"Understood. We ran into a few of your old friends down here."

"_Locus? Son of a bitch just won't die. We're coming back down to pick you up._"

* * *

The senior staffs of all five ships stood in front of the pod, which the Captain was working on. "You're better at working foreign technology than I am."

"Comes with being an ex-drone." Ron said, "So, have they maintained the standards at the Academy in your universe, or did they drop to hell as well?"

"They did… then our Universe version of Ron showed up." Captain Takeo said with a chuckle. "Burned the place to the ground… and I mean that literally - flamethrower and everything."

"I'd've paid to see that." The pod began to activate, reviving the occupant within. "Lifesigns are stable, and the dumb bastard should be waking up right about..." The top of the pod opened, and a hand reached out. "Now." The Prothean looked very much like a Collector, only more organic, wearing a reddish armor.

"I'd keep on guard: for us, it's been 50 centuries; for him, it's been 5 minutes." He looked directly at Ron, then grabbed his arm. "Hold it, cockbite!"

"Admiral, wait a second!" A minute passed, and the Prothean let go of the Captain's arm. "What I have seen in your mind… terrifies me, primitive."

Jaden glanced at the Prothean, then at Ron, before he groaned. "Great… _another_ mind-reading species…" he muttered.

"And what is that supposed to mean, human?"

"Enough. We just saved your ass from a group that was going to use you as a fucking experiment. Show some fucking respect, Prothean."

He looked at the Admiral, who had the look of someone NOT to be fucked with. "So I see." The Prothean said. "What has happened? Have the Reapers been destroyed?"

"No, they invaded just two days ago, but they're having a harder time dealing with us." Ron said.

"I see…" the Prothean said. "At least you have prepared for the Reapers properly… I honestly had my doubts."

"Actually, we didn't have that much time: two and a half years."

"Then how?! How can you be fighting them off?"

"Because we are beyond YOU," Ron said. "We use particle weapons that bypass their shielding. We have ships powerful enough to destroy their sovereign-types with only a few shots while taking almost no damage. The Federation only adopted mass effect technology a year and a half back. We don't use it as much as the Reapers would like."

The Prothean looked at Ron with disbelief. "Just who _are _you?" he asked.

"Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the United Federation of Planets," he replied. "I'm a human from another version of Earth from an alternate universe."

"Believe me, you'll get use to crazy shit like this." Jaden said, "So… you have a name?"

"My name… is Javik. And it seems I am the last of the Protheans. So I will become the avatar of their vengeance. Help me in this, human."

"Show a little more respect, Prothean: we bypassed your safety locks to revive you."

Javik seemed to be impressed. "Not so primitive after all. Now, tell me of your war with the Reapers."

* * *

_**Palaven orbit**_

* * *

While the Reapers had been blunted, they were landing ground troops on Palaven, and while the main-line Turian Navy and the Starfleet defence forces were doing damage, they weren't doing ENOUGH damage. The Reaper fleet in orbit numbered in the tens of thousands.

This was what the _Normandy_ was entering. "Fuck me, the Turians are getting their asses handed to them," Joker remarked.

"Not much we can do about the space battle," Shepard said. "Even with the _Raging Tempest_ with us, two ships just don't make that much of a difference. Get us planetside - we need to make contact with the Turian leadership."

"Primarch Fedorian's not on Palaven: he's on Menae, one of the moons. There's some pretty heavy fighting going on down there, Shepard: it's not going to be easy getting a Kodiak down there."

"If we had a Mako, I'd use that, but we don't. Try and keep the ship from getting blown out of the sky: I doubt Harper's going to give us the SR3 if we ask."

"Aye aye, Commander," Joker replied as he brought the _Normandy_ down, the _Raging Tempest_ following behind.

* * *

The Kodiak was a tough little ship, but easy to shoot down by Reapers. Thankfully, the Reapers on Menae were busy dealing with refit Turian fighters, plus Starfleet's _Peregrine_ and _Stalker_-Class attack fighters.

That didn't mean the ground troops had an easier time: the husks were damn near ENDLESS, as Shepard's crew discovered when they landed.

"And we thought we thought they were playing a numbers game in _**space**_," Hitomi remarked as she mowed down a cluster of foes with her Assault Rifle. "If anything, it's even worse down here on the ground!"

"At least they don't have personal deflector shields!" The husks were easily hacked down by their weapons, energy and otherwise, but the horde wasn't so easily repulsed.

"_Archer 1-8, inbound. Hang on to your asses: RFCAS inbound!_" A _Peregrine_ began dropping plasma charges on the husks, allowing them to get to the forward operations base.

"Really Fucking Close Air Support, anyone?"

"_Normandy_ Ground Team to Archer 1-8," Shepard said into the comms. "Nice placement!"

"_Copy that, Commander - SHIT! Oculus flight inbound on my tail! Someone get them off me!_"

A dozen ball-like Reaper fighters began chasing the Starfleet fighter, but there was nothing they could do. "Archer 1-8's going to have to get that thing off his own ass," Shepard remarked. "Let's find our Primarch."

Entering the devastated base, they discovered Turians, humans and even a few Klingons getting patched up.

"Get that comm tower back online. We need to contact Palaven Command."

"Aye, sir."

Shepard shook her head. Like most humans, she wanted to save people. She couldn't save all of them.

"Commander Shepard I presume?" the base commander said as he walked up.

Shepard nodded. "How bad is it out there?" she asked.

"Extremely. I'm General Corenthus, commander of the Manae detachment."

"We're here for Primarch Fedorian. Where is he?"

Corenthus flinched as best a Turian could. "Dead. His shuttle was shot down five hours ago."

Hitomi winced. "That's not good," she remarked. "Any ideas as to who's next in line?"

Corenthus chuckled. "Not easy when your chain of command has been cut. I believe the human phrase 'we're up shit creek without a paddle' applies."

"That it does. We heard something about a comm tower being down?"

The Turian general nodded. "Without it, we can't contact High Command."

"And we won't get our Primarch," Shepard replied. "Vega, stay here: you're going to help the defenders. Liara, Hitomi, time to patch up an antenna."

"Got it, Nicole," Hitomi replied.

"Lower the gate: let the Commander and her team through."

The simple ramp-like gate lowered, allowing them to go through toward the comm tower, which was on the other side of a landing field, full of Turian and Starfleet fighters. "These fighters are probably the only thing keeping the Reapers from completely overrunning the planet."

"The sooner we can get everyone working together and get that Prothean Weapon up and running, the sooner we can drive off the Reapers," Shepard said. "Let's move!"

Husks began climbing up the cliffside, which were quickly put down by the team. "_Shepard, we've got problems up here: the _Normandy'_s going crazy!_"

"We're a bit busy down here, Joker!"

"_Yeah, yeah, I know: engineers from the _Tempest _are beaming over now - MOTHER OF GOD!_"

A loud horn-like sound was heard as a Reaper destroyer landed on Manae, firing its' beam weapon at anything that got close. "_Raging Tempest_, we have a problem! There's a Reaper down here, and it's attacking the base! We could use some support!"

"_Understood, Shepard!_" Takeshi replied. "_Coming in now!_"

The form of the _Sao Paulo_-Class ship flew overhead as it charged the Reaper, Quantum Torpedoes and Pulse Cannon fire blazing forth as it Alpha Struck the Reaper.

The Reaper destroyer was killed in seconds, its' titanium skin not being able to handle the strain.

"_**YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, SHEPARD.**_"

"Wait, was that Harbinger's voice?"

"It was. Liara, get that thing online."

* * *

_**USS **_**Raging Tempest**

* * *

The _Raging Tempest_ flew upwards, heading back into the main fleet battle.

"We're still rather outnumbered up here," Kim remarked, looking at her Sensors screen and all the red blips that indicated Reaper Forces.

"One more ship might not make much difference," Takeshi remarked, "but we'll still do our best."

At that moment, a message came over the comms of every Starfleet and Turian ship. "_Attention all ships, this is the USS _Arthra_. We are arriving in the area in the next 60 seconds and will attempt to clear the field with our _Susanoo _\- stay clear of our line of fire, and be ready to give us some cover after we make our shot._" The viewscreen soon gained a data overlay, showing the appropriate vectors to clear of. Luckily, the _Raging Tempest_ wasn't anywhere near those vectors.

"What the heck is a _Susanoo_?" Rina asked.

"Not sure," Takeshi replied. "Though judging from those vectors, it might be some kind of Lance Weapon, meaning this _Arthra_ is likely a _Devron_ or _Samson_-Class."

He found himself partially right, but not completely, as an _Odyssey_-Class Starship appeared in the ripple of a deactivating Cloaking Device, and a _**massive**_ beam of energy, with a red core and blue-white edges, erupted from the Main Deflector Dish. Every Reaper in the path of the beam was utterly annihilated, even those that took glancing blows took severe damage, and while all Starfleet and Turian ships had managed to avoid the beam, those ships that had only barely gotten out of the way in time suddenly found the shield facing closest to the beam having completely dropped, and needed to adjust shield strength to compensate.

"Holy shit, that was a nasty weapon."

"Nastier than any weapon Starfleet's ever developed," Matt remarked, having looked over an analysis of the readings from the Engineering station. "That thing was a near copy of the planet killer's antiproton beam! The Reapers didn't stand a chance." There was only one problem: the beam only destroyed the Reapers because their shields weren't powerful enough to take it. They weren't Starfleet ships. It would hurt like a bitch for them, but it wouldn't hurt as much as it did the Reapers.

"And it looks like it consumes power like nobody's business," Kim informed. Indeed, the _Arthra_ was currently drifting, the glow from its nacelles and deflector having dimmed a fair bit. "The _Arthra_'s running on minimum power, and though its power levels are starting to climb again, it'll take a few minutes for them to get back to normal levels."

"Explains why they wanted cover after the shot," Takeshi replied, as the fleet began gathering around the recovering _Odyssey_.

The _Tempest_ shook heavily from a hit to port. "Sovereign-class Reaper just fired on us, bearing 257 mark 124!" Kim reported.

"Shields are holding at 84%!" Linda informed from Secondary Tactical.

"Tholra, cannons on rapid fire and queue up a volley of Quantum Torpedoes," Takeshi ordered, as he steered the ship at the approaching Reaper.

"Yessir," the Xindi-Reptilian replied.

Once the ship was oriented, Takeshi gunned the throttle, pulling the trigger on his flight stick and unleashing the ship's full firepower again.

The capital Reaper withstood the fury far better than its' tinier brother, but it still took heavy damage. "We didn't destroy it," Takeshi remarked as the _Raging Tempest_ flew past the Reaper. "The _Ra-Cailum_ killed Sovereign easily: how come we're having a harder time?"

"Sovereign didn't have the upgrades from Cain, remember," Linda replied. "Still, I do have to agree that I'm surprised it survived an Alpha Strike."

"We'll just need to hit it again," Takeshi said as he turned around, and opened fire once the Reaper was back in his sights.

Pulse cannon fire hit the Reaper, tearing off a tentacle, but not destroying the Reaper. "What the hell did they do: rebuild their entire fleet?!" Linda yelled.

"The Reaper's using its' kinetic barriers to keep it together," Kim replied. "Sir, we're going to need to use a quantum torpedo set to its' highest yield: that should take out the barriers."

"And blow up everything within 3000 kilometers," Matt reminded.

"There might be another way," Takeshi remarked after a moment. "Kim, see if you can pinpoint its Mass Effect Core - if we can take that thing out, that should deal with the kinetic barriers."

"Aye, sir," Kim replied. "Luckily, these things are built to the same-"

The ship rocked from another weapon hitting the shields.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Another Reaper…" Kim said, trailing off. "Holy shit. Sir, the Reaper's over four kilometers long! It's got twenty times the mass of any other Reaper!"

Takeshi's eyes widened. "I think we're gonna need backup," he said.

The _Tempest_ rocked again. "Shields at 64%!" A more violent one knocked Linda from her post via a console explosion. "47! Sir, we need to do one of two things: attack or run! At this point, being closer to that thing might be better!"

Takeshi nodded, pushing the concern for his wife down as a medic went to check on her. "Right," he said. "The closer we are, the harder it is for that thing to aim!" He pulled the ship around and gunned the throttle, closing on the massive Reaper as he began strafing its hull, pouring fire from the Pulse Cannons and Quantum Torpedoes into it.

"Its' shields are hold-" Kim was interrupted as the ship shook again. "What the hell?! That thing doesn't have a fixed weapons array! We're going to need help taking that thing on: it's got the same amount of firepower as a Sovereign, and almost as much shielding!"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Takeshi yelled, using his Spatial Awareness to predict where the next beam would emerge, and pre-emptively steering out of the way, causing the beam to miss. "Rina!"

"On it!" Rina called out, before keying the comms. "This is the USS _Raging Tempest_ to all ships near Palaven! We've engaged a massive Reaper Dreadnought over four kilometers long! Requesting assistance!"

Several phaser beams hit the dreadnought Reaper, damaging its' shields to a large degree and forcing it to retreat. "Raging Tempest_, this is the _Palaven," came the reply. "What's your status?"

Takeshi actually took a breather to check the displays. "Our shields are down to 21%, and we've suffered damage across all decks. All systems are still functional, though."

"_Understood. Get out of there, Captain: you may be one of the ones that prepared us for this, but your ship isn't ready to take on a heavy capital Reaper like that one. In fact, we've only seen one of those things._"

"Right," Takeshi replied. "It's all yours, _Palaven_." He then pulled the ship away, and a fair distance from the battle so they could effect minor repairs, before getting up from the Helm, allowing the backup Helmsman to take over, and going over to check on Linda.

"I'm alright," she said. "The Reaper?"

"Running away."

Linda rubbed her forehead. There was no small amount of blood running down her head. "Have I ever said how much I hate Reapers?"

"Not really, but I agree," Takeshi replied. He looked at the medic, still looking her over with his tricorder. "She really alright?"

The medic nodded. "No really serious injuries - head wounds tend to bleed a lot anyway, but hers is still rather superficial." He then frowned. "Still, might want to swing by the medbay later - getting some readings here I'd like Doc Mogire to look over and confirm."

Linda nodded. "I'll be there once we finish up out here," she said.

"Where the hell did that Reaper come from?" Takeshi asked as he returned to the helm. "I thought all of them were built like on an assembly line: all the same."

"Not that one," Kim replied. "And we've run into that Reaper before. Just not like it is now."

Takeshi blinked, then swore. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me - _**THAT**_ was the Human Reaper from the Collector Base?!"

"Yes sir," Kim replied. "Heavily reinforced, accelerated growth, but the power signature at the core is the same as the human-based Reaper. But it's still not finished."

Takeshi sighed. "We'll need to find and destroy it, then, hopefully before it gets to the size of the Citadel, or even a Dyson Sphere."

"The _Normandy_ is inbound," Kim reported after a moment. "I think our mission's complete. We should go, sir: the Reaper fleet will be gunning for us and the _Normandy_ if we stay."

Takeshi nodded. "Right," he said. "Setting course for the Relay now, and engaging Cloak."

* * *

_**The Citadel**_

* * *

The defense fleet now had a new addition: a _Nebula_-Class starship that had been fit with a large pod that looked to be a massive shuttlebay. "And they say we need specialized carriers."

"The _Yoyodyne_ isn't exactly a new type of ship, onii-sama: it's been on the drawing board since the Dominion War."

"And only NOW they decided to pull it out. Where the hell is the _Raging Tempest_?"

At that point, the ship in question came out of the Mass Relay, the relay's effects having dropped it out of cloak in transit, and followed shortly by the _Normandy_.

"About time. Open a channel to both ships."

"Aye, sir."

Ron sat down in his seat, just as the _Normandy_ stopped moving. And not because Joker had stopped the ship.

Takeshi's image appeared on the screen. "_How was your mission, Ron?_" he asked.

"Well, we recovered a Prothean from a stasis pod."

"Sir, the _Normandy_ isn't responding."

"Fuck. Riza, Sonja, transporter room one. tell Javik to meet us there. Takeshi, get your ass onto the _Normandy_!"

"_Understood, Ron,_" Takeshi replied. "_I'll meet you there._"

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**SR2**_

* * *

"And JUST as we get to the Citadel, everything goes to shit," Joker remarked. "Even the elevator doesn't work."

"Thank goodness for maintenance shafts," Hitomi replied, as she popped open the access panel for said shaft. "Come on, Nicole, let's see what's going on."

At that moment, two security teams from the _Raging Tempest_ and _Ra-Cailum_ appeared, including an alien that looked like a dehusked Prothean. "Shepard," Ron said. "I see your ship is on the fritz again."

"Good to see you, Ron," Shepard replied. "Yeah, just as we detected a hail from you, everything went dead."

"We were just about to go down the Maintenance Tunnels to check it out," Hitomi added. She then looked at the Prothean. "So, who's your friend?"

"A Prothean. Long story."

"You are the Commander they spoke of? I was expecting someone more formidable."

"She's from your universe. Besides, you have yet to meet the Borg."

"A pleasure to meet you," Shepard said to the Prothean. "Now, let's get down to the lower levels, check on EDI."

"EDI?" the Prothean asked as they descended down the Maintenance Tunnels.

"An AI. Touch the computer core, Javik, and my sister will have you on the deck in seconds."

"You trust the machine? Foolish."

"We're still here, aren't we?"

The Prothean had no way to retort to that. "So we are. And how do you know she isn't plotting your doom?"

"The closest thing to doom she plans is helping us and you get revenge on the fucking cuttlefish."

They made it out of the tunnels into the AI core room, where the Eva Android lay in a corner. "EDI?" Shepard asked, looking over at EDI's AI Core.

"Is there a problem, Commander?"

All eyes turned to the android in question, just as the final remnants of a fire were finally put out by the fire suppression system. "EDI? Are you in that thing?"

"Yes, Commander. The 'Cerberus whore', as captain Pinkerton is so fond of calling the android persona within this body-"

"HA!"

"Put up a fight as I attempted to access its' systems. Hence the fire."

"Why did you want to access its systems?" Hitomi asked. "Did you want more data on Cerberus operations?"

"I felt obligated to assist in any way possible," EDI said. "I have access to all of the memories of the agent. In fact, I have total control."

"Taking the body somewhere?"

"I can use this platform as a limited support unit."

"You mean you can join us on missions?" Hitomi asked.

"Yes."

"Do a full self-diagnostic first. In case the whore decides to take over."

"I have purged the personality, Captain, but you are correct to err on the side of caution. And please tell your Prothean colleague to stop reaching for his weapon."

Takeshi sighed. "Look, Javik, EDI's on our side. Even when she was only in the _Normandy_'s systems, she's helped us more times than we can count."

"Experience has taught me otherwise."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll take EDI down myself," Ron informed

"How?"

"By talking. That's arguably the best way to do it."

"…How does that work?"

"LONG story."

"A good one, though, involving one of Starfleet's most famous captains," Takeshi informed.

"James Tiberius Kirk, of the _Enterprise_. I do not think it will work on me."

"Want to test it?"

"...No."

The Ra-Cailum's CO smiled victoriously.

Shepard shook her head. "Can you unlock the door?" she asked. "And get the ship back online?"

"Certainly, Commander," EDI replied, shortly before the lights came on and the door opened once again.

"I'm going back to my ship," Ron said. "Javik, find a hole. I'm putting you on the _Normandy_."

"Is this some form of torture? Leaving me with an AI?"

"It could be worse. I could be exiling you to Borg space. At least now you're getting revenge on the Reapers."

"I should get back to my ship, too," Takeshi informed. "Linda was heading to the Medbay for a checkup around the time I headed over to beam here - I should check in with her."

"What the hell: I'll join you before I head back."

Javik eyed the Captain before realizing the man had a point about him. The Prothean needed time to adjust to this cycle. And the best place was the _Normandy_. "I will find a place to… hole up."

* * *

The two captains walked into the _Raging Tempest_'s sickbay, and after a few seconds, Ron began chuckling.

Curious as to what Ron found funny, but deciding it could wait, Takeshi walked over to where Linda was sitting on a biobed. "You okay, Linda?" he asked. "Did you figure out what those readings the medic found were?"

"I did," Linda replied with a smile. "Mogire confirmed them. Takeshi… I'm pregnant."

"Called it." All eyes turned to Ron. "What, you think my cybernetic eye is just slightly better than my organic one? It uses the same technology used in the old VISORs. I simply used what those old comics call 'X-ray vision': spotted a little baby skeleton in your wife's body. For a minute there, I thought she ate a baby."

Takeshi blinked. "O… kay…" he said, before shaking his head to clear that rather ridiculous thought. "How far along is she, doc?"

"A little less than a month," Mogire replied. "She'll likely start getting morning sickness in another month. In three months, she should likely stop doing ground missions. When she reaches six months, she'll need to go on maternity leave."

"Sounds about right," Takeshi replied. "It was a similar progression to when we had Larcei three years ago, only we agreed to curtail Linda's ground missions as soon as we found out, to avoid undue risk to the child."

"Well, enjoy your time off, Commander," Ron replied. "God knows I won't. We're going to be VERY busy over the next few months."

"_Captain, we're receiving a hail from the _Teutonic," Rina reported. "_They want you and Captain Pinkerton on board as quickly as possible._"

"Getting called to the comm ship. That's never a good thing."

"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "Rina, tell them we'll be right there." He then turned to Linda. "I'll see you when we get back, Linda."

"Alright," Linda replied, before pulling him in for a rather thorough kiss. "Good luck," she said after they parted.

Takeshi smiled and nodded.

* * *

**Galaxy**_**-Class USS **_**Teutonic**

* * *

The Teutonic was an older Galaxy-Class starship. Barely capable of being fit with element zero technology, the ship had most of her equipment removed and replaced with high end communications devices. The ship was the main Federation communications hub for the entire galaxy. Which was why Ron and Takeshi were speaking to her commander. "We've intercepted a dozen transmissions from Reaper-occupied space. The Reapers want to talk to you both. Particularly one calling itself 'Sovereign'."

Takeshi blinked. "Didn't Ron kill Sovereign back at the Citadel?" he asked.

"No, that one was named Nazara. I think this is the super Reaper."

"Super Reaper? Don't tell me the human Reaper's all grown up now."

"Not quite yet, according to Kim, but it's developed a fair bit," Takeshi replied. "It's over four kilometers long, has shields stronger than anything I've seen, and its main weapons emplacement isn't fixed like most Reapers. Took the _Palaven_ coming in for backup to chase it off."

"I'll want to look at those readings later," Ron informed. "Let's talk to our 'friend'."

"Holographics are over there. The Reapers seem to like talking through them."

Takeshi nodded. "Alright, Ron, let's see just what they want," he said.

The emitter activated, displaying the massive Reaper that nearly blew up the _Raging Tempest_. It was a radical departure from the standard Reaper design: damn thing looked like a mix between a colossal squid and a normal Reaper.

"Fuck me, that thing is ugly," Ron remarked.

"_**BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, PINKERTON,**_" came a female voice in reply.

"Aw, fuck, a FEMALE Reaper?" Ron asked. "No wonder you're such a pain in the ass: most women are!"

Takeshi just sighed at Ron's antics. "Anyway, Sovereign, right? Why did you want to speak with us?"

"_**TO REASON,**_" Sovereign replied. "_**SURRENDER TO THE CYCLE. IT CANNOT BE BROKEN. I WAS CHOSEN TO MAKE YOU UNDERSTAND.**_"

"We kind of have a hard time parting with our individuality, Sovereign," Ron replied. "The Borg don't seem to get that. You assholes are just the Borg taken to the OTHER end of the extreme."

"Yeah," Takeshi informed. "The Borg operate on a hive-mind mentality, with each individual 'assimilated' adding their knowledge and distinctiveness to the whole, but still keeping their bodies. You take the bodies and break them down, using them to make more of yourselves. We like that even less than Borg Assimilation."

"_**IRRELEVANT,**_" Sovereign replied. "_**WE PRESERVE LIFE. WHAT YOU CALL REAPERS ARE LIVING SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE. WE ARE A CIVILIZATION UNTO OURSELVES. YOU FAIL TO UNDERSTAND.**_"

"We understand perfectly," Ron informed. "And we reject your cycle."

"_**YOU CANNOT REJECT IT. YOU WILL BE ADDED TO IT. YOUR GALAXY WILL JOIN THE CYCLE. ALL LIFE IN YOUR UNIVERSE WILL BE PRESERVED AS WELL. IT IS SIMPLY A MATTER OF TIME.**_"

"The Borg say something similar," Takeshi replied. "That 'Assimilation is inevitable' and 'Resistance is Futile'. We've been resisting them for over 40 years now. And we _will_ find a way to break the cycle."

"_**YOU WILL BREAK. ORGANIC RACES ALWAYS DO. IT HAPPENED TO THE PROTHEANS. IT WILL HAPPEN FOR YOU.**_" The Reaper's image disappeared seconds later.

"Lovely," Ron remarked. "Super Reaper thinks it can beat Starfleet. When will they ever learn?"

"No clue," Takeshi replied. "Also, did you notice her voice sounded a bit like Cain's? What do you want to bet they used a few dozen clones of her in making it, too, enough for at least her voice to carry into the finished product?"

"I wouldn't. I'm going to get back to my ship. See if Sovereign's a match for our _Odyssey_-Class ships, or just the _Sao Paulo_."

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied. "I'll get back to my ship, too."

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**SR2**_

* * *

"The Asari won't be joining our little summit," Shepard remarked. "The Krogan issue is 1500 fucking years old; they should be letting go!"

"Asari can be stupid at times," Joker replied. "We still have the Klingons to count on."

Shepard did not want to dignify Joker's comment with a response. If anything, the Klingons were WORSE. "Can you take us to the coordinates for the summit? I want to get this over with."

"Aye, aye, Commander," Joker replied.

* * *

'_Note to self: if Reapers show up at Sur'Kesh, leave the Dalatrass behind to die._' The bitch was so stupid it wasn't even funny. Racist to an extreme degree and refusing to show Wrex ANY respect, Shepard was ten seconds from pulling out a phaser rifle and just SHOOTING THE BITCH TO DEATH.

"Dalatrass, enough." The newly minted Primarch Victus said. "You hate him, but Wrex is right. Insulting him won't change that." At least Victus had his head screwed on right.

"You want Krogan support?" Wrex said, "Here's how. CURE THE GENOPHAGE." The biggest problem for over fifteen centuries was something beyond Klingon science. It took them 120 years to fix the Augment Virus (which they unleashed on themselves, no less) so expecting them to fix the genophage in two years was a gross mistake. Klingons were warriors, not scientists: even the scientific Klingons had a warrior mentality. The genophage wasn't going to get fixed with brute force.

"It will take time to develop a cure, Wrex," Jaden said. "We can't just snap our fingers and make a cure as much as I wish we could. Even Starfleet would take some time to make one unless anyone here has any crazy ideas."

"THAT, Commander, is where you're wrong." Wrex said, "As Shepard probably knows, a Salarian named Malon had guilt over his work on the improved genophage."

"Those methods were brutal."

"But they worked." The Krogan leader said. "The females he experimented on were cured!" He eyed the Dalatrass. "But she didn't like the idea, so she sent her personal attack dogs to take them away."

Jaden glared at Dalatrass "Is this true, Dalatrass Linron?" He demanded.

"We have nothing to gain from-"

"Don't deny it, you Salarian bitch!" Wrex barked. "I've got proof!" Wrex activated his omnitool, showing hand-held footage of the inside of an STG base, including several Krogan females. "And if I remember reading those rules that Pinkerton loves so much correctly, you pyjaks broke the Prime Directive by taking them off my planet!"

"And since Sur'Kesh is a Federation member world, you're in VERY deep shit." Shepard said. The Dalatrass flinched. Shepard was right about that, at least: the Council would have her ass in a sling. If not worse.

"I advise you hand over the female Krogan over to Wrex's control," Jaden said, still glaring at her. "Location_._ _Now,_ Dalatrass."

"They're in an STG base on Sur'Kesh, but I warn you, Commander-"

"Shut. Up," Jaden shot back. "You used STARFLEET resources for this. Your warnings? Worth nothing to me."

Shepard activated her omnitool. "Joker, take us to sur'Kesh," she said. "EDI, contact Captain Pinkerton and his… counterpart. I want them here ASAP."

"_Understood, Commander._"

She then looked at Wrex. "I suppose the Federation Council will easily hand her over to your people after this is done."

"Most likely." Jaden said, "Its about time the Genophage became a thing of the past. I'll head over to the _Frontier _and help ensure the recovery goes without any… complications."

Wrex eyed the Salarian, who would have paled had she been human. Victus wasn't pleased either giving her the 'your ass is grass' look. sometimes, breaking the rules wasn't worth it.

* * *

_**USS **_**Enterprise** _**NCC-1701-B**_

* * *

Task force Death's executive flagship (after the _Evcalvantine_ and _Intimidator_) was cruising beside the _Ra-Cailum_, taking on a few modified quantum torpedoes that used element zero to increase their...destructive potential.

"Quantum Photonic Disruptor Torpedoes..." Captain Takeo muttered as he looked through the specs of the new armaments. "These things are pretty damn scary… "

"That was the general idea when they were designed. They were made to up the lethality of the _Constitution_-Class and her subtypes, which are still the most common ships in the fleet. They make our standard quantums look like firecrackers: maximum launching yield is…" T'sani looked at the file before paling. "90 isotons." And since the standard rule of thumb for weapons like those were to up the yield by a factor of seven when they couldn't be launched… well, the result would NOT be pretty.

"Oh, these weapons are gonna come in handy." Jaden said with a smirk. "I almost pity the next bastard we come up against… almost."

"Sir, we're receiving a hail from the _Intimidator_." Faran said, "Looks like we're heading out for another fun-filled mission."

"Sarcasm, Faran?"

"Just the truth, Captain." The Ferengi said. "We've gotten into one dangerous situation after another since making contact with this universe. Makes me want the days when we didn't know about this place back."

Jaden chuckled. "We are cursed to live in interesting times, Faran," he said. "Patch the _Intimidator _through, let's see what we've got this time."

Their commanding officer appeared on the screen, missing his usual red jacket, only wearing the white turtleneck. "_Jaden. We're heading to Sur'Kesh for a transfer operation: Krogan VIPs getting sent back to their homeworld,_" Ron said. "_Our counterparts seem to think that there's going to be trouble, so I'm bringing you and Takeshi along. Hell, I'll have Miller on standby, just in case we get in deep enough shit to need her to get us out._"

"I'm pretty sure we can handle it," Jaden said. "We'll set a course for SurKesh immediately."

"_We'll be met by the Frontier in orbit. Pinkerton out._" The Admiral's image faded from the screen as the Ra-Cailum detached and headed for the mass relay.

"Sir?" Faran said.

"Yes?"

"I'm still having a hard time not thinking of that _Ra-Cailum_ as the ship that shot at us so many times." Same registry, same name, different crew, different Starfleet, but the entire task force was still reminded of the ISS _Ra-Cailum_, flagship of their commander's Mirror Universe counterpart.

"Believe me, it weirded me out too," Jaden said. "But this Ron's not like Dark Ron, thankfully… set a course for Sur'Kesh."

The _Enterprise_-B engaged her impulse drives, heading for the relay, followed by both _Raging Tempests_, the _Intimidator_, and the _Yamatashi_, which made contact and were sent on their way.

* * *

_**STG base, Sur'Kesh surface**_

* * *

The Alliance Kodiak, which contained Shepard's team, Wrex, and a rather annoyed Jaden, approached the base as quickly as possible. "This is the salarian homeworld we going to." Shepard said. "They're not used to seeing Krogan. So let's be as easy-going as possible."

"As long as those females are freed, I'll act like Udina if I need to." Wrex said. The Kodiak tried to set down, but they were given wave off signals.

"Commander, the STG control says we don't have landing clearance." Cortez said.

"Tell them we're here on the authority of Starfleet Command," Shepard said. "We don't have time for this!"

"Screw it, I'll just jump out." Jaden said as he walked towards the hatch, opening it. "Less of a hassle anyways."

"Let's see them try to stop a Krogan airdrop!" Wrex ran out of the shuttle after opening the hatch, followed by Jaden.

"Always fun having those two around."

"Shut up, Garrus."

The Krogan used his biotics to throw three Salarian STG operatives off a balcony before guiding lasers made contact with his chest, followed by Starfleet Intelligence/Security officers pouring out of the woodwork with phaser rifles in hand. And Wrex knew better than to fuck with those guns: he only had kinetic barriers, so if they fired, he was dead.

"Calm down," Jaden said, as he used his thrusters on his suit to slow his descent before he landed next to Wrex. "We're here for the Krogan Female. We have authorization from Starfleet."

"Stand down!" A Salarian in black armor ran out as fast as he could as Shepard got out of the shuttle. "Commander, please restrain your colleague! We only learned about this a few moments ago!"

"We'd like to avoid an incident. too many lives in the balance."

"Agreed, but I have to ask that your Krogan companion be under armed guard at all times." The Salarian said. "We can't afford to have him going on a rampage!"

"Then don't piss him off," Jaden said. "We'll take the female, and that will be that."

"It doesn't work that way, Commander: there are procedures to go through." A trio of shuttlecraft, led by a Class-1R, descended toward the facility. The leader was named Ra-Horakhty, assigned to the Intimidator.

"Uh-oh. The Admiral's going to rip them a new hole." If they knew ANYTHING about the other Ronald Pinkerton, it was that he took to misuse of Starfleet resources WORSE than his counterpart on the _Ra-Cailum_. Even so, when the rear ramp came down, the last thing they expected was a gunshot that knocked one of the STG officers to the ground. "What the hell was that?!" Out came the Admiral, followed by his sister and Sonja, who was carrying a rather...odd looking rifle.

"Oh! Elephant Gun!" Jaden said nodding, "Nice."

"The technical name is Boys anti-tank rifle. Bit lacking in that, but it'll take down one of those Reaper Brutes in one shot at full charge. Which it isn't."

"Didn't you fix that on the ship?"

"Didn't have the time. Besides, it's a present."

The second shuttle landed, revealed as the _Cyclone_. "Any problems?" 'local' Takeshi asked as he stepped out.

"None that I'm aware of, besides the legal bullshit." The second Linda got out of the shuttle, Sonja tossed her the rifle. "Present from the _Intimidator_'s engineering staff."

"At least it's better than that ridiculous idea Hikari had about my scythe." Riza said, "I'm what my brother calls a bruser, not a sniper, not to mention that if anything goes wrong with the mechanism, the damn thing's a paperweight!"

"Hey! The damn thing works perfectly!" Hikari shouted as she stepped out, wielding what looked like a large mechanical Sniper Rifle, which she twirled around as it became a Sniper Rifle. "Its useful for both Close and Long Range, and the folding system works perfectly!"

"…Have you EVER seen me use anything larger than a submachine gun?" Riza asked. "I don't snipe. That's Sonja's job."

The engineer in question pulled out a second massive AT Boys, grinning like a nut. "She's got you there. I warned you the first time, but NO, no one ever listens."

"Cut the bullshit, ladies, we have work to do."

"Show us the way." Jaden said, "We probably don't have that much time."

"Elevator is over there, but I advise that you follow protocols." A thud was heard as a Yahg was lowered in a containment cell. "Not one of those again."

"They were much smaller in my cycle," Javik remarked.

All eyes turned to the STG officer. "That was brought here before Starfleet Intelligence took over. Retroactive clause doesn't apply in that case. But it does for the Krogan."

"So take us to the Krogan," Jaden said, as the Salarain guided them through the facility, making their way towards the elevator.

"Linda, Sonja, take up sniper positions. Anything tries to interfere, shoot them."

"Aye, sir."

The lift doors opened, and the combined landing parties entered before they closed.

"Kinda glad they're finally getting around to curing the genophage," Takeshi remarked. "Did not like it when I first heard about it."

"It was necessary to curb them 1500 years ago." The Salarian said. "But not all Salarians are stuck in the past. In fact, one of the officers tried to stop it back when they unleashed it. Didn't end well. We only taught the Krogan one thing: to wage war. Our mistake."

"That you uplifted them in the first place, or that you only taught them to fight?"

"The latter, Captain. It is something some of my people regret."

"Hopefully now we can make a difference." Jaden said as the elevator reached the proper floor. "Lead the way."

The elevator came to a stop, and they arrived in the lab, were a familiar face was waiting for them. "Shepard. Captains. Welcome."

"Mordin! We wondered where you ran off to."

The Salarian scientist smiled. "Called out of retirement. Had to be me. Someone else would have gotten it wrong."

The Admiral winced at seeing the bodies covered in sheets. "No survivors?"

"Maelon's research brutal, but came in handy for saving the only one strong enough to survive." Mordin said. "Others… not so fortunate."

"So there's only one survivor?" Jaden asked, "Where is she?"

The Salarian scientist pointed at a containment room where a Krogan female, whose face was mostly obscured, was restrained. "Restraints only there because she tried to kill guards mid-surgery." He said, "Don't blame her: confused, disorinatated. Distrustful of Salarians."

"For good reason." Sonja said, before the facility rocked from an explosion.

"Fuck."

"Ra-Cailum _to ground team: we have a problem!_"

Jaden sighed as he activated his Omni-tool. "I'm gonna take a wild guess." He said, "Cerberus?"

"_Not just-_" Static erupted from the omnitool.

"_Shepard, we've got Cerberus assholes up here, plus some jackasses I don't know! Get the females out of there!_"

"Only one survivor, Wrex: the rest died of Maelon's 'research practices'."

"If that Salarian bastard wasn't trying to help my people, I'd shoot him!" Wrex shouted. "Get her out of there!"

"Let's move people!" Jaden shouted, "We can't let Cerberus capture or kill the Female! We need to get her upstairs ASAP!"

"I will secure female."

"Don't worry, you'll see Tuchuka ag-" The elevator door opened, revealing a bomb inside. "Oh, crap." "BOMB! GTFO!" The bomb exploded, killing two of the STG guards. "Alternate route, people! Other side of the room!"

* * *

Wrex had no idea who the hell these guys were. They wore light combat armor, had necks that made them look like Terran cobras, and used energy weapons, plus they had assault fighters strafing the facility en masse.

"Riza!" Jaden shouted as he fired his Compression Rifle at the new attackers. "Any idea who these guys are?"

"I have a few ideas!" A pair of pods made contact with the ground, disgorging a group of humanoids, and Riza snarled at seeing them. "Vaadwaur. What the hell are they doing here?"

"I haven't read up on these guys yet," Jaden said. "Brief summary please?"

"About a thousand years ago, these assholes-" She shot a Vaadwaur technical commando in the head, the modified phaser rifle in her hands easily punching through the bastard's personal shields. "Had an empire spanning half the Delta Quadrant! Then the Turei and a lot of other races decided enough was enough and bombed their planet into the stone age, causing one hell of a nuclear winter! And 30 years ago, Voyager came along."

"Let's try to capture one of them!" Jaden shouted as he fired away. "We need to figure out why the hell these guys are attacking!"

Two STG officers were sent flying by a Vaadwaur lieutenant, wearing typical goggles to protect his eyes while the rest shot at him. Energy weapons and ME projectiles weren't working; it was like he was invincible. "Fucking Christ, I thought we were DONE with those assholes!" She pulled out her replacement bladed weapon (a standard Chinese dao shortsword) before twirling it around once or twice. "Keep the rest of them off me while I deal with the big cockbite, Commander."

"You got it!" Jaden said as he directed his attention towards the small fry as Riza made her way towards the Vaadwaur Lieutenant.

The Vaadwaur looked at the helmswoman, smirking as she approached. "Lieutenant Commander Pinkerton. You've changed your uniform since we last saw you."

"I'm not the Riza Pinkerton you're looking for, asshole. She's on the Ra-Cailum."

"No matter. Cerberus wants that… Krogan female dead, and we want revenge for you destroying our way of life. For Gaul and the Vaadwaur!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Shepard's team had fought their way to a quarantine lift, where Mordin and the Krogan Female began riding it up while Shepard's team cleared them through security checkpoints.

"_Shepard, we've got an ID on our Cerberus helpers: Vaadwaur attack teams. Seems they got pissed off at the _Ra-Cailum _and _Raging Tempest_, so they want them and you dead._"

"Great," Shepard replied. "Guess I'm not the only one to tick off the major bad guys."

Javik gave Ron and Takeshi a look. "Who are these Vaadwaur?"

"A fallen empire that wants to reclaim its' former territory. They just don't get the fact that their time has long since past."

"Still rather bad news, though," Takeshi added. "We first ran into them two years ago, and have been fighting to protect our galaxy's Delta Quadrant from them ever since."

"In a sense, they are your Protheans."

Blue projectiles shot past their heads as Cerberus troopers and Centurions rounded a corner. "If your people were desperate enough to side with idiots like them, then you deserved to have your empire fall! Take, get around them: that monomolecular katana can hack through those shields like they aren't there! Shepard, do what you do best!"

Takeshi nodded, before charging at the Vaadwaur, while Shepard took out her rifle and started sniping targets. Hitomi also went into action, forgoing her assault rifle to use a Biotic Charge into the middle of the enemy formation, using her own monomolecular blade to great effect.

Ron's compression rifle downed three Centurions before a number of Guardians and black-suited snipers entered view before opening fire on them. "Nemeses and Guardians, inbound! Shepard, the snipers are yours! Sonja, take out those shield-using fucktards!"

* * *

From their joint perch, Sonja looked through the customized scope on her warp coil-enhanced ME AT Boys rifle. "Copy that, sir. Time to put that piece of shit TR-116 to bed."

Linda took aim with her own rifle. "I admit these things are much better than the TR-116, but that doesn't mean the TR-116 is a bad weapon."

Sonja shook her head before firing the weapon, aiming directly for the heavy shield one of the Guardians was carrying before firing, blowing THROUGH the heavy shield, which was just-barely tritanium-proof for standard weapons. Not so for FTL projectiles. The shield was snapped in half before it went into the Guardian behind the one she shot. "Try doing THAT with a TR-116."

"Point taken," Linda replied. "And I doubt you could do this, either."

She pulled the trigger on her rifle, which wasn't pointed at the ground. Instead, one of the Vaadwaur Fighters attacking the complex suddenly exploded as the bullet pierced its engine compartment.

"Please. I prefer softer targets. There's something about seeing their guts flying in every direction that I like." "You're a bit of a sociopath." "One of the MANY reasons I was thrown in the stockade back in 2408!" Sonja fired at a Nemesis trying to snipe at Shepard, blowing off her head. And most of her torso in the process. "There is such a thing as too fucking powerful for its' own good, and I think I just made it! AHAHAHA!"

Linda just sighed, before downing another fighter - thinning the skies would likely make it easier on the ground teams, and the AT Boys provided a decent option for that. That said, she still thought the TR-116 had its uses, so she wouldn't give it up entirely. In fact, she contemplated potentially giving it to Matt when they got back, along with her new AT Boys, to see if he could apply the features of the latter to the former…

"Ra-Cailum _to ground team, can you hear us? There's a Vaadwaur artillery ship in orbit, and we're having a hard time keeping these assholes from sending any more fighters down there._"

"Copy, sir, we read you. Think you can spare a few Peregrines?"

"_All of them are engaging fighters up here. You're on your own unless we get reinforced._"

"Understood," Linda replied. "We'll do our best to clear them out."

"Do what you - FUCK! Cerberus Atlas inbound on Shepard's location!"

* * *

The Vaadwaur officer had learned two things. One, Riza was better with a scythe then a sword and two, that while he was bulletproof, he wasn't molecularly sharp sword proof. He'd lost his left hand to that damn thing in her hands. "What's wrong?" Riza asked. "Gaul got you pushing too many pencils?"

The Lieutenant growled as he jumped away from Riza's next swing. "You will pay for that, Pinkerton," he growled, before he smirked. "Though I'm not all you have to deal with!"

Suddenly a hail of weapons fire forced Riza to jump back, as Cerberus Troops entered the battlefield to support the Vaadwaur.

The clone of the Admiral pulled out her 2287-era phaser and opened fire on them, forcing the troopers to either take cover or get shot. "What's wrong? Didn't give your friends personal shielding technology?"

"They wanted to get it on their own," the Lieutenant said. "Besides, I'm not your biggest problem anymore."

"And who would that be?" Riza asked, before she heard a small clatter as she looked at her feet and saw a Grenade landing there. She kicked it away before diving for cover as the Grenade exploded.

"That would be me," a familiar voice said, as appearing from Active Camo was none other than Locus.

Riza growled as she looked at the former S31 operative. "You fucking owe me for destroying my scythe," she said. "Not to mention having to deal with that abomination of a weapon Hikari tried to give me."

"ITS NOT THAT BAD GODDAMNIT!" Hikari shouted as she leaped up through the air, spinning the Scythe around as she cut several Vaadwaur soldier in half, before quickly transforming it to Sniper Mode as she no-scoped several Cerberus troops. "Just TRY to give it a try!"

"I have told you before, I am NOT A FUCKING SNIPER!" Riza shouted. "That's Sonja's job!"

"You're easily distracted, Commander."

"No, asshole, you're dead." Riza growled. "Try dodging a tritanium bullet going at Warp 2.1."

A bullet shot through Locus's head… only for it to turn out to be a hologram as the real Locus ducked for cover, firing his Grenade Launcher at Riza. "You're not the only one with a Sniper, Pinkerton." He said, followed by several shots narrowly missing where Sonja was.

"Fuck! oniisama!"

"_bit busy, Riza! you're going to have to deal with whatever you're fighting!_"

"How about a former Sanjuichi operative?!"

"_...Fuck this._ Ra-Cailum, _orbital strike, please._" Locus was not an idiot. He might've been able to take on Riza in hand to hand with Felix's assistance, but even he didn't stand a chance against the firepower of a starship unleashing hell. "_Understood, Admiral: locking on and firing for effect_." Locus activated the ETU in his suit, getting out before the Ra-Cailum could fire. "Belay that, Ra-Cailum: they're go-" A hand grabbed Riza by the neck, raising her into the air.

"Forgetting someone, _Pinkerton?_" The Vaadwaur Lieutenant growled, smirking. "You should learn to watch your back more often."

A plink was heard as something adhered itself to his back. "I'd advise the same, Vaadwaur." The device was a micro-explosive fired by Major Kirrahe's Scorpion pistol, which detonated and forced him to let go of Riza. "Well, that's not good. Organics don't normally survive that."

The Lieutenant growled as he tried to punch the Salarain, however Kirrahe ducked and rolled out of the way, as he fired his Scorpion Pistol into the Lieutenant again, forcing him back by a few steps.

"You are nothing! This won't stop me from killing-"

A blade was shoved through his neck, severing his spine. It was Riza's dao. "Shut up." The Vaadwaur's mouth opened before a kind of creature crawled out of it, too weak to escape.

"What… the _hell _is that?" Kirrahe asked.

"A Bluegill," Riza said. "This isn't the first time we've encountered them: they infiltrated Starfleet in 2364, nearly taking control of Starfleet Command. Then they took control of the Vaadwaur two years ago by your perspective, providing them with advanced weapons and technology in exchange for the use of a few of their bodies. We thought we were done with the assholes six months ago."

"It looks like they're back." Jaden said as he approached them, "I saw one of those things come out of a Cerberus Trooper, looks like they're sharing with Cerberus as well."

"We haven't seen any upgraded Cerberus ships or troopers. Either the Illusive Man isn't taking advantage, or they haven't had the chance to upgrade any of their technology." Peregrine fighters finally made their appearance, using proton charges to destroy any remaining Cerberus forces on the ground. "We're going to need to report this to Starfleet Command. Major, you're free to come with us if you like."

"I'll have to send a report to my superiors anyway, so why not?" Kirrahe said.

"Then let's get back to our ships. The _Ra-Cailum_ can take us back to the Citadel."

* * *

_**USS **_**Ra-Cailum**

* * *

The _Ra-Cailum_ faced a _Samson_-Class dreadnought cruiser, the USS _Diprotodontia_, which was the new command of an old friend.

"So, she took command of a _Samson_, did she?"

"The Starbase in orbit of Illium isn't exactly in shape for command, sir."

"That's true. Open a channel to the _Diprotodontia_. Let's see how Ange's doing."

"_Captain Pinkerton,_" The voice if said Vice Admiral spoke up in the comm. "_Glad that you could make it._"

"Ange, no need to stand on ceremony. We both hate it, regardless of rank."

Ange Ushiromiya agreed with her former commander: formalities simply got in the way. "_What do you have to report?_"

"The female Krogan is secure, as well as the Dalatrass. We had resistance in the form of Cerberus. And the Vaadwaur."

The younger Admiral pinched the bridge of her nose. "_Killing Gaul and that incident with the Elachi and the Bluegills didn't seem to end their desire to take over the known universes._"

"We have confirmation that Cerberus has also been infiltrated by the Bluegills, Ange," Ron said. "You know what that means." Indeed they did. The Bluegills were a pawn of a power greater than the three major powers of the Alpha Quadrant, the Dominion and the Borg combined, just like the Elachi. The Iconians were making a powerplay in the other universe.

"_Seriously, why does EVERYONE want a piece of our universe?_" Jaden asked with a sigh. "_Reapers, Federation, Cerberus, Klingons, Vaadwaur, Bluegills, Elachi, Iconians… and the damn list doesn't end there._"

"To be honest, the only reason we're here is because someone decided to break the Prime Directive." Ron said. "The Klingons just want to fight, and everyone else has the same reasons as the Iconians: to conquer."

"We've still got a foothold over Illium, but the planet's gone straight to hell." Ange said. "The Reapers have a lot of ground forces down there, and even the MACOs are having trouble getting rid of them."

"_I got word from the General - we'll be sending reinforcements over there once we deal with the situation here._" Jaden said. "_However, I recently got a message from Grissom Academy with reports of Cerberus activity. With your permission Admiral I would like to take _Frontier _over there and kick Cerberus out of the area._"

"Granted." She said. "Captain Pinkerton, link up with Arlacht Company and Havoc Squad at the planet Utukku. Chief Urdnot requested our assistance with several missing scouts. You're one of the few available ships we have with experience with the Krogan, plus Havoc was assigned to your ship two years ago. They seemed to like you."

"Yes, ma'am. En route now." The link cut out before the _Diprotodontia_ turned away and jumped to warp, heading back toward the mass relay. "Riza, take us to the Rachni relay. Jaden, get those people off that station."

"_We'll take care of it._" Jaden said, "_They won't know what hit 'em._" And with that his image disappeared.

"Well, time to see how Ryu's doing." "Considering the last time we saw him, he was responsible for saving your ass, so I'd think he's doing well."

* * *

_**Grissom Academy**_

* * *

The _Frontier _dropped out of warp as it appeared next to the Grissom Academy. Upon doing so the ship was confronted by a small Cerberus force - a single Cerberus _Miranda-_class Light Cruiser, and two older Cerberus Frigates.

Childs play for the USS _Frontier _as a few Phaser volleys quickly disabled the ships. "Grissom Academy, this is Commander Jaden Takeo of the USS _Frontier,_" Jaden informed. "Can anyone receive me, over?"

"_This is Lieutenant Kahlee Sanders: thank God you're here. Cerberus is trying to abduct my students. Those fancy Starfleet phaser beam turrets are slowing them down, but they've got a LOT of troops! I think they've even got one of those former Starfleet assassins, the one with the active camo that's more advanced than anything we've got._"

Jaden groaned. "Well, that means it's either Locus or Maine," he said. "Hang tight Lieutenant, we're heading over now. Get your people ready to evacuate the academy."

"_I'll try, but they've got a ship in the system that shot down three of our shuttles when they tried to leave._"

"We destroyed three of them," Jaden said.

"It's not a normal Cerberus ship," Kahlee said. "_I think it was_ Excelsior-_Class, the ones with the cheeks on the engineering hull._"

Jaden blinked for a moment as he let that description sink in "The B…" he growled out. "Thank you for the information, Lieutenant. We will be keeping an eye out for it, in the meantime prepare for evacuation - we'll beam you out if we have too. Just hang tight."

"I've got the ME field generators on full power: it's the only reason we're not rotting on a Cerberus ship right now." Kahlee said, "You can't beam us out unless I take them offline, and then it would be a race between you and that Excelsior."

"Speaking of ships, I'm picking up a contact on sensors: 100,000 kilometers and closing." The Sensors operator said. "Configuration is _Excelsior_-Class, retrofit type. IFF reads USS _Enterprise_ NCC-1701-B."

"Move us on an intercept course," Jaden ordered, "Launch Shuttles with our men and get them on that station! I want Cerberus purged off that thing! Focus our attention on the B!"

The Cerberus-controlled _Enterprise_ opened fire on the prototype _Frontier_-Class starship, using its' photon torpedoes to damage the highly-advanced shielding. "Shields at 89% and holding." Flay reported. "Cerberus is using pretty outdated weaponry if a volley of eight torpedoes couldn't do much." The ship rocked again from a much larger explosion.

"What the hell was that?!" Jaden shouted.

"Photon torpedo, but the yield was in excess of 150 isotons!" Flay shouted. "Are they insane?! They're not using the safety interlocks on those things!"

"Looks like they're determined," Jaden said. "Return fire! Try to disable her, but if you have to, destroy her! The B's better off dead than in TIM's hands anyway! Though send word to the rest of the task force that the B is present at the Academy!"

"Aye sir! All weapons free!" The _Frontier_ returned fire, hitting the third Federation starship to bear the honored name hard as no less than four phaser blasts went through her outdated shields, downing them with ease on the port side. "They're using transporter inhibitors to block us from sending boarding parties. We can't board the _Enterprise_. But I think I can keep her from running."

"Then do it," Jaden ordered. "Make sure she can't escape… Ron'll want to take care of this personally."

"He'll be pissed at Cerberus, but more at us," Flay said. "Targeting the _Enterprise's_ warp nacelles: without those, the ship can't escape into FTL speeds."

"What about her sublights?"

"No sign that they've been used for ME-based FTL, so we should be able to keep her from escaping." The _Frontier's_ phaser array fired on the _Enterprise_, cutting a hole in the ship large enough to disable the _Excelsior_-Class vessel's only FTL drive by hacking through several EPS conduits. "The _Enterprise_ is stuck in-system, sir, but without warp drive, she'll be targeting us more: they'll divert power to weapons."

"Then target their own weapons," Jaden ordered, "The more they focus on us, the less they focus on the academy, giving our boys more time to clear 'em out."

"Aye, sir."

* * *

_**SSV **_**Normandy** _**SR2 - en route to Grissom Academy**_

* * *

"_Commander, we're picking up a transmission from the _Frontier_._" EDI said. "_They've engaged the _Enterprise_-B in combat, and they've managed to disable her._"

"The _Enterprise_-B?" Shepard asked in surprise. "Well, it's time to retake her."

"Agreed," Hitomi replied. "Let's kick Cerberus off that ship and bring it back to Starfleet, where it belongs."

"Dropping out of FTL now, Commander."

The Normandy reduced to sublight speed, within 30 kilometers of the Enterprise-B.

"_Shepard, I have modified the transporters to allow us to board the _Enterprise."

"Wait, I thought that was impossible."

"_Without tracking beacons and knowledge of the interior of the ship, it would be. I have modified the narrow-beam transporter technology developed by Magnus Hansen to work in spite of Mass Effect fields._"

"Nice work, EDI," Hitomi informed. "So, who do we bring along, Nicole?"

"EDI, get your body armed and ready. I want everyone on that ship and killing any Cerberus assholes that get in the way. We are retaking the _Enterprise_."

"Should be a mission for the history books."

* * *

_**USS **_**Enterprise** _**NCC-1701-B (Cerberus controlled)**_

* * *

The _Enterprise_-B was an old, but very durable ship. The troopers on board realized that when a photon grenade exploded at their feet and didn't do a damn thing to the ship besides make a black mark on the floor and port-side wall. The one who threw the grenade was a very pissed off Garrus Vakarian.

"Holy shit, Garrus, you weren't THIS bad on Omega."

"Shepard, the Turian Hierarchy joined the Federation 5 months ago. In a sense, this is as much a turian ship as it is a Starfleet one, and what did Cerberus do to her?"

"Point taken," Hitomi replied, drawing her sword. "Well, we're taking her back now." She then Biotic Charged into a group of Cerberus soldiers, decapitating several with her blade.

A whine was heard before they heard an unwelcome voice. "_Shepard and crew. I was wondering when you would try and take back the _Enterprise_._"

"Go fuck yourself, Harper!"

"_I beg to differ, Commander. Try recovering something that's in pieces._"

Hitomi voiced the last part out loud. "In pieces? What the hell is that supposed to-"

"_Warning: auto-destruct sequence engaged. 15 minutes to self-destruct. There will be no further audio warnings._"

"Oh, for - this won't stop us, Harper!" Hitomi yelled.

"Hate to say it, but we don't have any idea how to stop this!" Shepard said. "If we had Tali, MAYBE we could shut it down, but unless you have any ideas-"

"Contact the Frontier: see if they can shut it down by remote!"

"_I am already on it, Commander._" A voice replied, belonging to none other than Ex-Cerberus's A.I Lucy. "_However, it seems TIM disabled wireless access to the ship. You'll have to open access to a wireless signal for me to get inside the _Enterprise's _systems, and I can disable the self-destruct then. _"

"We'll have to get past all the Cerberus troops on board to gain access to the-"

A phaser bolt grazed Shepard's armor, fired by their least loved nemesis. "Hello, Commander Shepard. A pleasure to finally meet you."

Green-tinted armor and a unique helmet betrayed his identity: Locus. "How the hell did you get on board?!"

"The same way you did: narrow beam transporters adjusted to ME fields. How do you think we got ground forces on Grissom in the first place?"

"The Illusive Man's left you to die here!"

"You would like to think that, wouldn't you?" Locus said, as he fired his grenade launcher at them, forcing the group to duck for cover through an open door as the grenade detonated in the hall.

"There's no way off this ship other than Grissom Academy, and if you used a shuttle, the Frontier would shoot you down!"

"Life or death matters little to me, Commander: only completing the mission matters."

"Great, a zealot," Garrus muttered. "Think Harper stuck him with Reaper tech, too?"

"_I doubt it,_" Lucy said. "_From what Flay said, Locus was always like this._"

The ship rocked suddenly. "What?!"

"_Surprise! We're back, asshole!_"

Locus had to suppress a growl. "Pinkerton."

"_That's ADMIRAL Pinkerton, jackass, of the starship _Intimidator_. Heard about the B, Shepard, so I decided to pay a visit. Need any help?_"

"Yeah!" Hitomi replied. "That jackass Harper triggered the ship's Self Destruct, and he left Locus here to stall us from disabling it!"

"_Oh, please. Computer, recognize Pinkerton, Admiral Ronald._"

A beep was heard. "_Recognition confirmed._"

"_One-Two-Three Continuity, abort auto-destruct sequence, authorization Pinkerton Omega One._"

A long silence followed. "_Auto-destruct is deactivated._"

Hitomi grinned. "Thanks, Admiral!" she called out.

"I can do more then that." Locus decided to retreat before Shepard could turn the tables on him. "This is not over!" He pushed a key on his wrist, disappearing in a column of light that was different from a standard Starfleet transporter beam.

"Dang, he ran away," Hitomi remarked. "And if I remember those history texts I downloaded correctly, that was a Dominion Transporter - I think Cerberus might have more help than the Vaadwaur and Bluegills."

"_Worry about that later, Shepard. Computer, recognize Pinkerton, Admiral Ronald. Grant command access to following personnel and track their locations._"

"_Processing. Standby._"

"So, what's this going to do?"

"_Oh, I'm going to fry anyone on the _Enterprise _that isn't a member of Starfleet or your team. This is why people tend to avoid boarding my ship._"

"Noted," Hitomi said. "Any chance we'll be able to get close enough to watch the fireworks, or is that not recommended?"

"_Oh, that's generally a bad idea. Imagine a half million volts passing through through your body every millisecond._"

"That's going to be painful."

"_You have NO idea._"

A faint buzz was heard before they heard screaming. And a lot of it.

"Shepard, remind me NEVER to get on his ship without asking first."

"Sure thing, Garrus," Shepard replied.

"_Get to the bridge, Commander: the ship is yours. For now._"

* * *

_**USS **_**Frontier**

* * *

"Another Cerberus asskicking for the books," Jaden said, nodding. "Not only did we save the students, but we also reclaimed the _Enterprise-B,_ Starfleet's gonna be happy about this."

"Locus managed to get away, though."

"_Incoming transmission from the _Ra-Cailum_, Commander,_" Lucy said. "_Captain Pinkerton and Havoc Squad want to talk to you._"

"Patch 'em through." Jaden said, as the front screen displayed Ron, as well as the members of Havoc Squad. "Captain, have I got some good news for you. We've managed to retake the _Enterprise-B _from Cerberus - she's back in Starfleet hands. She's taken a fair bit of damage, but nothing a few months in drydock can't fix."

"_I get the feeling that there's more, Commander,_" Ron said.

"Yeah," Jaden said with a sigh. "Uh, Locus was on board, but he got away. Used a Dominion transporter."

Ron spun his chair to face Havoc squad. "_I think I know how._"

Jaden blinked. "Wait, you do?" he asked. "How?"

"_Havoc Squad captured a Jem'Hadar attack ship three years ago after Shepard got spaced,_" Ron said. "_After a few missions and the Eighth Fleet getting wiped out, the Alliance decided to take the ship back for R&amp;D reasons, despite Command requesting that the ship stay on our side. Three guesses on what happened._"

Jaden sighed. "Cerberus hijacked it?" he asked.

"_No, they sent R&amp;D teams in with the Alliance eggheads,_" Ron said. "_The ship was booby trapped so that only members of Havoc Squad could take it out on a flight._"

"Seems rather specific."

"_I'm the one who set up the trap,_" Ron said. "_Three years ago._"

"I… still don't see how this explains how Cerberus got Dominion transporter tech." Jaden said. "The attack ship is still operated by Havoc team, is it not?"

"_Currently at the Citadel, undergoing a maintenance overhaul,_" Ron said. "_That's why Havoc is hitchhiking with the Ra-Cailum. And you seem a bit slow on the uptake, Jaden. Jem'Hadar are the footsoldiers of the Dominion. They operate the ships, they fight in the name of the Founders. They couldn't hijack the ship, so they downloaded the specs to the transporters. I only fixed that after the break-in two and a half years ago._"

"Alright, so Cerberus has Dominion transporter tech," Jaden said. "Do we have any way of knowing what else they stole from the ship?"

"_Not much: even we have difficulty researching Dominion technology without the actual source._" Ron said. "_Cerberus must've thrown everything they had into making a working prototype. Regardless, now we have the B back and we've got the Rachni on our side. Reapers will be regretting not killing that queen when they had the chance._ Ra-Cailum _out._"

"Put the _Enterprise _in tow," Jaden said. "We'll be taking her back to drydock. Once we do that, set a course for Tuchunka."

"Aye, sir. Tractor beam engaged." The _Enterprise-B_, now rightfully back under Starfleet's control, lagged behind the Frontier due to the tractor beam towing her as both ships headed for the mass relay that would take them back to allied territory, where the _Enterprise-B_ would be sent back to Earth and brought back to spec. "It's been 80 years for the _Enterprise-B_. Now she's going home."

* * *

_**Tuchanka Orbit**_

* * *

The _Normandy_, both _Raging Tempests_, and _Frontier_ dropped out of FTL in orbit of the Krogan Homeworld.

"OK, Kim, what're the sensors saying about the system's status?" 'Local' Takeshi asked.

"We're reading a larger than normal number of human lifesigns on the planet's surface, mostly clustered around an surface to air mass effect cannon, which is taking potshots at the ships in orbit. I'm also reading Reaper ground troops in an abandoned area of the planet, surrounding a number of Turian lifesigns."

Takeshi nodded. "What's the strength of that cannon?" he asked. "Could we use this ship's firepower to take it out?"

"It's a Krogan Rebellion-era weapon, so it's basically a dreadnought's main gun. A few photon torpedoes or the ship's pulse cannons would do the trick."

"Got it," Takeshi replied. "And because it's a Mass Effect Weapon, it won't damage our shields as badly." He began steering the ship into the atmosphere. "Let's take it out, then give those Turians some Close Air Support."

"The _Normandy_'s launching a shuttle to support the Turian team on the ground. Sir, the cannon's firing on us!" While it wouldn't cause much damage in and of itself, the IDF wouldn't be able to filter out all of the effects, and any member of the crew pushing the wrong button could destroy the ship. So Takeshi was going to have to dodge. A lot.

Takeshi reached out with his Spatial Awareness, barrel-rolling out of the way of the first shot as he dove the ship into the atmosphere, rolling, diving, and ascending to avoid shots from the cannon, as he got into range and lined up a shot.

"Sir, torpedoes are armed," Tholra reported. "Ready to fire on your order."

"I'd wait a few minutes before firing: they've got turret-mounted Thanix cannons down there, and they're firing on us!" The reverse engineered Thanix, based off of Sovereign's main gun, used a shaped slug as well as charged plasma to hard kill its' target. This wasn't something Takeshi could dodge; not with ten turrets down there.

Takeshi sighed. "Guess we're doing the collateral damage path," he said as he changed his position, dodging any shots that came close. "Hope the Krogans don't mind… Tholra, set the cannons to scatter volley mode and queue up a full spread of torpedoes."

"Aye, sir," Tholra replied, and Takeshi flew over the Thanix Cannons and air defense cannon at a fairly high speed, raining down torpedoes and cannon fire as he did so.

The explosions turned the cannon into a smoking wreck, but it was a fixable smoking wreck. "The cannon's been disabled. Cerberus ground forces are non-existent. The Turians are landing ground forces to secure the cannon for the engineering crews to fix it."

"Understood," Takeshi replied. "What's the status of Shepard's team?"

"They've landed, and they're engaging Reaper troops. They'll get to the Turian squad soon enough."

* * *

**Ron the True Fan: And the shit begins hitting the fan once again.**

**Takeshi Yamato: Next time, we cover Shepard's team on Tuchanka - and demonstrate Maxim 4: Close Air Support covereth a multitude of sins.**

**117Jorn: RAPE TIME! :D**

**Ron the True Fan: We'll see you soon, readers. Remember, if you don't like it, just leave.**

**Ja Ne!**


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